The Instrumentality of Katsuragi Misato
by Lycoson
Summary: In her dying moments, Misato is brought into Instrumentality, and her final wish creates a new universe of her own. In this fantasy, she is the same age as Shinji during the angels' return. Perhaps here, with her as an Eva pilot, everyone can have a second chance. But she is not the only one leading a different life.
1. 0: Psychogenesis

Author's Note:

Hello everyone,

Well this is a bizarre experience. I started this fanfic a whole four years ago and stopped midway through the second chapter, just one of an even dozen aborted fics from around that time. Midway through last year, while reorganizing my fanfic folder, I found it again and found some inspiration to start writing it once more. Just working on this once again is surreal, like returning to a house where I have not lived in years.

I had originally come up with this idea after seeing fanart of Misato as a fourteen-year-old EVA pilot. Details were added bit by bit, first before abandoning it, then after I picked it up once more. Somehow heavy metal (especially Ayreon) ended up in the mix, along with a healthy dose of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

I'm still not sure what sort of an upload schedule I will have for this fic. It will probably not be as regular as it was for Cybernetic Cabaret, since I have other stories I would like to write in tandem to this, but hopefully it will be at least once per month. I will also be uploading the next chapter directly after this one, to get the ball rolling a little quicker.

To the few of you that have read any of my other stories, welcome back. To the rest of you, I hope you enjoy what I've written. Please let me know what you think in the comments, reviews really do keep me writing.

* * *

0: Psychogenesis

Cold.

That was all she could feel within her and around her: cold everywhere except for the warm puddle beneath her.

Cold.

Katsuragi Misato lay crumpled on the floor by the elevator, bleeding out the last of her life deep within NERV headquarters. She knew she was about to die, but she did not mind. Shinji was on his way to the EVA launch bays, so there was still a chance he would make it out. She had done all that she could for him, all she could for humanity as a whole. Asuka would have to fend for herself, the way she always had. Then again, if the Human Instrumentality Project was actually occurring, perhaps none of it mattered.

Cold.

Misato still had absolutely no idea where Rei was, but that was not surprising. Whatever endgame Gendo Ikari had planned, Rei had a large part to play in it. Plots within plots within plots, she reflected. She could not be sure that even what she had been told was the truth. But none of that mattered now. Misato had played her part, and she felt too tired to go on.

Standing above her, she saw a spectral image of Kaji, glowing clearly even while the rest of the world blurred and faded. Misato smiled, content that this obvious hallucination would be he her final sight. With the last of her strength, she spoke to the apparition.

"If I'd known it would end like this, I would have changed the carpet like Asuka wanted. Still, I did good, didn't I, Kaji?"

As Kaji smiled down at her, his features shifted, and Misato realized that it was Rei standing above her. There was a smell—a strong smell. Blood? No, not blood, she realized, LCL. Her entire body smelled like LCL. Before she could react, she felt a rushing deep within her being and abruptly found herself floating in a dark void, the image of Rei exactly where she had been before.

At least she was no longer cold. She could no longer feel anything, as if her entire body had gone numb. In fact, she was not even sure she still had a body. Curious, Misato tried to move her arm, waving it between her face and the only source of light she could find: the Rei image. There was nothing there for her to wave. As if she had read Misato's thoughts, Rei's voice echoed through the void.

"The spatial awareness of the human body is an illusion created by the mind, based on an internal map and correlated with sensory data. Yet this awareness can persist in spite of the senses. Even if an external justification of this map does not exist, still the human mind believes it has a body."

So she had no body. That should have meant she had no mouth. But Misato found she could somehow form words.

"So then," she began, "I suppose I'm dead or something?"

The image of Rei was impassive. "How can you know if you are?"

"I was shot," she reasoned. "I was bleeding out, and suddenly I'm in a black void with no body."

Rei continued to stare at her, responding without moving her lips. "Why do you need to convince yourself then?"

Misato continued to think through her situation. Something about it bothered her. "If that's true, though why can I still think? My life came to an end back there. It's all over."

"Then why are you still here?" Rei asked. "You were shot. You died. There is nothing left for you but the end of your existence. And yet you are still here. How are you still able to think? What is holding you back?"

Misato floated for a long time, thinking. Finally, she laughed, "Maybe I have regrets? Something about my life I'm not happy with?"

"What would that be?"

This image of Rei was beginning to irritate her with her constant questions. "I don't know, maybe how I died?"

"Would you change it?" the girl asked.

"There was nothing I could have done to change it," she countered.

"Wasn't there?"

Misato stared at the Rei image. Expressionless, she stared back.

Abruptly, Misato had a body once more. She stood on the ground in the geo front, the shredded remains of EVA-02 a short distance away. Empty suits of clothing lay sprawled across the ground, soaked through with LCL. The lake had turned a faint orange tinge as the LCL flowed down into it. There was not a single living creature anywhere to be seen. Rei stood on the surface of the lake, staring up at EVA-02's remains.

"Was this outcome inevitable? Was there _really_ no other way it could have happened? Each moment is the result of a thousand people making a thousand decisions. Gendo's decision. Kaji's decision. Shinji's decision. Rei's decision. Misato's decision. Had any of them chosen a different path, this event would have happened differently."

Images flashed before Misato, memories intermingled with fantasies. Shinji standing as the elevator doors closed. Kaji holding her in his arms. EVA-01 howling as it burst free from its restraints. The glowing form of Adam as she had seen it when she was fourteen. Eva-01 attacking the first angel of its own accord. Kaji helping her home after a night of heavy drinking. Asuka shouting "I hate everyone!" The sea of Rei clones in the Dummy Plug factory all turning to smile at her maniacally. Shinji smiling at her. Shinji, emerging naked from a pool of LCL. Nerv Headquarters filled with puddles of LCL and empty suits of clothing. Hundreds of images, flashing before her mind's eye so fast it was painful. Her entire life and more compressed into a heartbeat.

"I wish…"

"What do you wish?" The image of Rei asked.

Her voice gaining strength, Misato elaborated. "I wish I could have made more of a difference. I wish I hadn't gone through my life sleeping with whoever, just to feel wanted. If I could go back and do it over again, I wouldn't be that way."

"Then make it so."

Misato sat on the bench in a train car. At the other end of the car sat Rei, staring through the window. Outside was nothing but a white void. It seemed so empty. As she focused her mind, however, Misato found that she could see things in it: people and places, some real, some possible, and others pure fantasy.

Rei spoke, her voice reaching Misato as if she were sitting next to her.

"The world is shaped by the will of the mind that perceives it. Eternity is a single moment, and a single moment eternity. Imagine the world you wish, and make it so."

Misato mentally shivered with sudden understanding. "Wait, no. It can't be. This is…is this…Instrumentality?"

The image of Rei continued as if Misato had not spoken. "But be warned. Every wish carries its own consequence. Moving even a single pebble from its appointed place can cause an avalanche. Knowing that, is that still your wish?"

"I want to make a difference! I want to live a different life!"

The train car stopped. The doors opened. Taking a deep breath, Misato stepped off the car into the blinding white void.

As all that she was, all that she had been, melted away, Misato heard Rei's voice echo in her mind one last time, "Wisely done, Katsuragi-san. I will see you up ahead."


	2. 1A: Welcome to the New Dimension

1A: Welcome to the New Dimension

"As of 1:12:30 PM today, a state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district. All residents will please evacuate to their designated shelters immediately. Repeat: As of 1:12:30 PM today, a state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district."

The voice echoed throughout the empty streets of the abandoned city, endlessly repeating its warning for residents whom had already left hours ago. All else was silent, except for the drone of heavy VTOL aircraft overhead and a chorus of cicadas.

The mechanical voice on the other end of the phone line spoke, "Due to the state of emergency, all lines are currently unavailable."

Shinji sighed. "That figures." He looked down at the keycard and picture he held. The former was a simple sheet of embossed plastic, with his school photo and the letter in one corner. The latter depicted a man in his early thirties, hands in his pockets, and shirt untucked. He was leaning against a wall, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. At the bottom, the name "Kaji Ryoji" was scrawled in black ink.

The city around him was seemingly deserted. Parked cars sat abandoned amidst lightless buildings. There was no hint of any other person, let along this "Kaji" he was supposed to meet. He was beginning to wonder if this had all been a prank, or if his father had changed his mind.

Not for the first time, Shinji wondered why he had agreed to come here. The cryptic letter from his father certainly was not very inspiring: a sheet of paper with most of its message blacked out with marker and a hastily-scribbled "Come! Signed, Gendo Ikari" scrawled along the bottom." He had torn it into pieces at first, but decided to go anyway. What did he hope would happen? That his father would apologize and try to make up for the years they had spent apart? That seemed like a futile hope.

Shinji twisted as he heard a flock birds taking flight. In the almost silent city, the sound was jarring, a sudden sign that something else was alive there. As the pigeons flew into the air, they passed by a figure. A blue-haired girl in a school uniform was standing in the middle of the road, motionless, staring straight at him. Shinji stared back, not quite sure what to make of her sudden appearance. There was an ethereal quality to her, as if she were not entirely there.

A voice shouted somewhere behind him. "Hey! You!"

Shinji jumped as he turned to see who had spoken. It was another girl, as unlike the first as it was possible to be. Dark eyes laughed out at him from the pale, smiling face of a girl roughly his age. Her raven hair was styled into a high ponytail which left two forelocks to dangle freely and frame her face. She wore a loose yellow t-shirt, very short jean shorts, and a pair of faded canvas sneakers. A white cross hung around her neck on a thin cord. Unlike the blue-haired apparition, she seemed animated, and very real.

"Hi there!" she exclaimed.

Shinji blinked, trying to decide whether he should reply or not. On one hand, there was no one else around. On the other, he should really be looking for the person he was supposed to meet, and this girl certainly was not him.

The girl continued. "I'm Misato. What's your name?"

There could not be any harm in just introducing himself, could there?" "Shinji. Ikari Shinji."

"Well, Shinji, you really shouldn't be out here. Didn't you hear the warning?"

Shinji turned back to look where he had seen the blue-haired girl. She had vanished as suddenly as she had appeared. He began to wonder if she had been there at all, or if he had just imagined her. Why he would specifically imagine a blue-haired girl, though, was beyond him.

Misato stepped over next to him, giving him a curious look. "What are you staring at?"

"N-nothing," he replied. It would probably be a bad idea to let this stranger know he was seeing things. Going back to the previous subject, he said, "What about you? Shouldn't you be in a shelter also?"

Misato pointed to herself. "Me? I need to get to Tokyo-3. They were _supposed_ to send someone to pick me up, but of course they're late. Just what I'd expect from uncle Kaji."

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Kaji?"

"Yeah, Uncle Kaji. You know him?"

Shinji handed her the picture. "Is this him?"

Misato leaned in close, a look of suspicion on her face. "How do _you_ know uncle Kaji? I don't remember seeing you before. You some sort of spy?"

"I-I got a letter that I was supposed to come here." He stammered. "I'm supposed to meet him so he can take me to see my father."

Her entire demeanor changed once again, becoming friendly and amused. "Well, isn't that funny. They said they were picking someone up someone else new. I didn't expect them to send someone so…nerdy."

Shinji winced. Perhaps talking to this girl was the wrong decision after all.

"Sorry," he replied.

In the distance they heard a string of explosions cut through the drone of cicadas. Shinji turned toward the distance sound, worry slowly overtaking his mind. "What was that?"

"Probably the military shooting at something," Misato explained. "They evacuated this area for a reason, right? Maybe they were expecting something to attack."

"But what, then?" Shinji pressed.

"Whatever it is, I'm not sticking around to find out. Damn uncle Kaji, he should have been here to pick us up already." The girl shrugged, seemingly unconcerned despite what she had said. "Well, I guess we'll just have to get there ourselves."

"How? The trains are out."

Without replying, she spun on her heel, and set off down the sidewalk. She glanced ever so casually at all of the cars she passed. After a few paces, she stopped and rushed over to the curb with excitement. "Oh wow, look at this!"

A large cherry red motorcycle sat at the curb. It was a sleek model, riding low to the ground with a streamlined windscreen and thick, rounded tires. A recessed seat was sculpted into its rear half, with handlebars set at what Shinji presumed was a comfortable angle. A dozen bumper stickers adorned its side, ranging from military insignias to corporate logos.

Misato caressed the bike lovingly. "Ceramic double-rotor two-wheel disk drive, nitro-infused fuel injection, reinforced shock absorbers. This bike is a work of art; whoever owns it must be loaded."

Shinji shrugged. "So? How does that—"

He stopped talking as Misato swung her leg over the bike, popped the kickstand, and began examining the various dials and gauges recessed into its console.

"Push start? No key? That's weird." Misato turned to him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get on!"

"Do you really think it's okay to take that?"

"We need to get to NERV headquarters, don't we?" she pointed out. "This is an emergency, they won't mind."

"If you say so," Shinji muttered, "It still seems like we're stealing it."

Misato glared at him. "Just shut up and get on the bike."

Reluctantly, Shinji climbed into the motorcycle's seat. It was more comfortable than he had expected; the foam was ergonomically sculpted to give support in all of the right places. Heat rose into his cheeks moments later as Misato crashed down into his lap, leaving him unable to think about anything else. She did not seem to notice him as she wiggled into a comfortable position and adjusted the bike's handlebars. After several seconds, she pressed a button on the handlebars. The bike shuddered as it rumbled to life. She revved the engine and the bike responded instantly. The instant her hand eased off of the throttle, however, the engine coughed, slowed, then stalled out.

In the distance, they heard another round of explosions, followed by a screeching, then a much louder series of explosions which rocked the parked cars.

Shinji once again began thinking this plan was a terrible idea. "Can you handle this thing?

"Er, right, just a sec." She restarted the bike and listened to it for a moment. Once again, it began to cough and stall. She revved the engine once more, listened, looked at one of the console gauges, then nodded. "Ah, I get it, the engine can't drop below 5,000 rpm, even when it's idling. This guy liked some real speed."

He blinked, not sure if he was actually speaking nonsense or if he was just distracted by her ass pressing into him. "What does any of that mean?"

She twisted her head halfway around to look at him. A maniacal grin spread across her face that he was not sure he liked. "It means grab my waist and hang on!"

She revved the bike's engine once again and shifted into gear. Shinji felt himself yanked back into the seat as they accelerated. The bike's front wheel lifted inches off the ground, and the back squealed against the pavement.

Misato screamed in exhilaration the wind whipped past her, raven hair streaming out behind her and into Shinji's face. Through the assault of Misato's ponytail, he caught a glimpse of the speedometer swing past 100 kph in a matter of seconds, eventually settling at somewhere over 200. In an alarmingly short time they left the city behind them and were flying along the highway. They were going far too fast; if they crashed or hit a bump, the two of them would not live long enough to realize what had happened. Even worse, the acceleration was pressing her body back against his. He could feel the bones of her hips grinding against him.

Somewhere behind them, the explosions continued. Shinji risked a glance back over his shoulder, curious what was happening. Dozens of VTOL gunships swarmed around a spot at the far side of the city. Sporadic flashes marked explosions and gunfire, all focused at what seemed to be a single target. A smaller line of flashes erupted from dark shapes on a nearby freeway, marking a battalion of tanks adding their firepower to the attack. At the center of all this was a looming shape, seemingly unfazed by the explosions. Even as Shinji watched, a beam of impossibly bright light lanced out from the form and struck one of the encircling aircraft. The gunship instantly burst into flames, spiraling out of control as it crashed into the ground and exploded.

"Umm, Misato?" he shouted forward to her.

"What is it?" she called back."

"You really should look behind us!"

"Little busy concentrating on the road here," she replied. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we're safe. This baby can really fly—We're doing 240."

Shinji began feeling queasy.

* * *

NERV's Command Center was buzzing with activity. Dozens of white-suited technicians sat at consoles on four separate levels. Their shouted reports and commands, along with the chatter numerous radios, echoed through the cavernous space. At the center of the room was a large holographic map, the contours of the surrounding landscape highlighted in neon lines of green and orange. The front wall was full of projected images, with one large screen surrounded by smaller ones.

The main screen showed a video feed from an aircraft hovering above a city. Standing center-frame was an enormous figure, roughly humanoid in shape, but with hunched shoulders, no defined head, and a mask-like face emerging directly from its torso. As it walked through the clouds of explosions, it shot occasional beams of light from its eyes and arms, eradicating whatever the beams touched. One by one, the various tanks and gunships were struck, either exploding in an instant or crashing into the ground in flames.

The technicians' shouted reports became more frantic, each beginning before the last had finished.

"Tank platoons Alpha and Bravo are completely destroyed! Platoon Charlie is down to 40 percent strength!"

"Gunships report no effect!"

"Target has moved to grid four four five mark three six zero!"

"Platoons Delta and Echo have engaged the target!"

"Gunship squadron is down to 60 percent strength!"

At that instant, the humanoid on the video feed turned its face toward the camera. There was a blinding flash of light, and the screen was filled with static.

"Video feed lost, switching to secondary source."

The static was replaced with another video feed, this one from a different angle.

On he holographic map, a blinking sphere at the far edge moved slowly toward the center. The small pyramids surrounding it vanished at an alarmingly fast rate.

At the highest point on the Command Center's central dais, a man sat impassively. Dark haired, bearded, and wearing pair of orange sunglasses, he had a cautious and calculating demeanor. From his seat he watched the proceedings with an almost bored expression, hands folded in front of his mouth. A thin man with grey hair and a heavily lined face stood at attention next to him, with an almost identical expression of boredom as he watched the proceedings.

The thin man spoke. "Finally. After fifteen years, the angels have returned."

The bearded man nodded. "The Third Angel. Sachiel."

* * *

Misato's heart pounded in her ears as the wind whipped at her clothing. This was exhilarating! The roads were empty, the sky clear, and the bike she had "borrowed" was thrumming beneath her as it rocketed along the highway. This bike! She had already fallen in love with it. Whoever its owner had been, they had clearly spent a great deal of time and money to make it ride as fast and smooth as possible. This was bliss: riding the razor's edge between life and death, all of her other thoughts left kilometers behind.

A small part of her mind was aware of the explosions in the city behind her. There was only one thing that could provoke that sort of reaction from the military. An Angel. She wanted to look back and see it, to finally put a face to the threat which uncle Kaji and the others had talked about for so long, but a voice in the back of her mind began chanting. _Don't look back. Don't look back. You won't like what you see if you look back._

Easing off the throttle enough that she could hear over the wind, she called back to her passenger. "So Shinji! You're commander Ikari's son, right?

"You know my father?" the boy sounded surprised.

"Sure, _everyone_ at NERV knows the commander. He doesn't mingle much, but he's always there somewhere."

"What exactly does he do?"

Misato swerved the bike in surprise. "What? You mean you don't know? How can a boy your age not know what his father does?"

"I haven't seen him at years," he explained. "I'm not even sure why he wanted me to come here."

Misato lapsed into silence. It seemed so strange. She supposed she could relate, with how distant her own father had been. At least before what had happened. Damn, this boy was making her think about life, and that was not good. She needed to go faster. She gunned the throttle and shifted into high gear once again.

A blue car flashed by them on the opposite side of the highway. Misato wondered why anyone would be deliberately driving _toward_ the explosions. Something seemed vaguely familiar about the car, but it passed too quickly for her to recognize any details. In the rear view mirror, Misato saw the it make a sharp U-turn through a maintenance ramp and accelerate back in their direction. To her surprise, it was not falling behind her. She was doing just under 200, meaning the other person had to be burning out their engine just to keep up.

The vehicle honked at them and flashed its lights. Clearly it wanted them to slow down. She eased off the throttle despite a twinge of worry. Misato was very aware of the fact that she was riding a stolen bike and did not have a license. She could be in serious trouble if the police found out. If the driver tried to stop them, she could always just gun it. There was no way a production car could catch them, not with the bike's engine.

As the car drew up next to them, the driver rolled down his window and leaned out. When Misato realized who it was, she was not sure if she was in more trouble than she already was, or less.

"Well now," he called over to them, "I was expecting I'd have to rescue you from that mess in the city, but it looks like you took the situation into your own hands."

"Uncle Kaji!" Misato greeted him enthusiastically, "Look what I found! Isn't it cool! Zero to one hundred in four seconds!"

"You're not supposed to be driving, you're too young!" he shouted over. Was it her imagination, or was a smile at the corner of his lips?

"If you didn't want me to, then you shouldn't have taught me! Besides, better have me take it than have it be blown up."

Shinji poked his head out from behind her ponytail.

"Oh, and I picked up the boy you were supposed to find," Misato added.

This time Kaji was definitely smiling. "Well now, that saves me a lot of time. Nice to meet you, Shinji Ikari"

"Hello, Mr. Kaji, sir," Shinji replied.

Kaji laughed. "Just call me Kaji."

"He was just standing there in a phone booth, so I figured why not bring him along?" Misato explained. Part of her hoped that they would overlook everything else if she kept talking about helping them. Maybe they'd even let her keep the bike.

Kaji nodded. "Good thing you did. We need to get him to Tokyo-3 as soon as possible. the angel is moving this way. Just before I left, I heard the military brass talking about using an N2 mine on it."

That almost made her swerve off the road. "Are they crazy? Forget the angel, that could take out half the city!"

"Hence why we need to get back to headquarters. Pull over, you can get in the back and I'll take you there."

Misato laughed. "In _that_ ratty piece of trash? Forget it. You'd be lucky to get there before the angel. This thing could run laps around you. I'll get the two of us to headquarters in no time."

For a horrible second, Misato thought he was going to insist she stop. That would be the _responsible_ thing for him to do. He was her guardian, after all. She prepared to open the throttle once again. Just take off and damn the consequences.

"I'll call ahead and let them know to get a train ready for your arrival," Kaji finally replied. "Don't crash. We'll talk about this later."

Misato opened the throttle as far as it would go and shifted into top gear. The bike rocketed ahead, leaving Kaji and the car behind in a matter of seconds. Somewhere overhead, a large military plane droned past.


	3. 1B: Tower of Hope

1B: Tower of Hope

The holographic map made it clear: the military was losing. Only a few triangles remained around the blinking dot now, marking a scattered handful of military assets. The voices of the technicians had mostly died off into cold terror. Only the occasional shouted report broke the silence.

"Platoon Echo reports 5% strength. They are retreating and regrouping."

On one of the lower levels, one of the olive-suited men stood from his seat. "What's the status of the N2 mine?"

"En route to the target," another of the technicians replied. "ETA, three minutes!"

On the highest platform, the two men remained impassive.

"How many civilians are in the area?" the olive-suited man asked.

One of the other technicians spoke up. "None. All shelters report their sectors clear."

"Once the mine is laid, tell the bomber to fall back to a safe distance and report in." He turned to look up at the bearded man. "Well now, commander Ikari, It's looking like your services won't be needed."

The bearded man did not reply, and after a moment the Olive-suited man returned to giving orders.

"That mine won't be able to breach the angel's AT field," The grey-haired man commented.

"Let the general find that out for himself," commander Ikari replied.

* * *

They had been traveling for almost ten minutes, and Shinji's face had gone completely numb. His initial panic at their speed had faded somewhat, leaving him with a queasy unease. Unfortunately that did not translate to any greater comfort, as Misato's warm body was still pressed against him.

Looking for anything to distract himself, he glanced back in the direction they had come. Despite the stinging wind, his eyes went wide in surprise. Walking out of the city was a humanoid monster as tall as a skyscraper.

"What is that?" he screamed.

The girl in front of him stiffened, but did not take her eyes off the road. "An Angel. It's what NERV was designed to fight."

Shinji frowned in thought as he absorbed this new information. He was curious how this strange girl fit into the situation. If what she said was true, that his father's company was some sort of military organization in addition to being scientific, then Misato was even more out of place. She did not look like any sort of scientist or soldier, so why was she there? Why was _he_ there, for that matter?

"How do you know all of this?"

Misato simply looked down at the motorcycle. "Come on! Please give me 250! I know you can do it!"

Shinji looked back at the advancing monster. It seemed so surreal, like something out of a film. As he watched, a VTOL aircraft moved toward it, dropped something in its path, then turned and shot off at high speed.

Misato glanced up as the craft passed them. "Hey Shinji? Did that plane drop something?"

"Yeah, didn't you see it?"

She shook her head. Misato seemed agitated, not willing to look at the creature. "How far away is the angel?"

"I don't know," he replied, "a couple kilometers?"

"Too close!"

Their current stretch of highway ran along a hilltop, with banks blocked off by guardrails sloping down on either side. Down the slope on the side opposite the angel was a dirt access road, barely more than a track. Misato slowed the bike so quickly that Shinji felt himself yanked forward. As they reached a gap in the railing, Misato turned the bike, sending them off the highway and down toward the access road. They bumped along down the slope, Misato somehow keeping the bike from crashing despite it pitching and bucking from the uneven surface. They were only halfway down the slope when the sky behind them lit up with an intensity a hundred times brighter than the sun. Moments later, they felt the shockwave, which sent them careening out of control.

* * *

One of the technicians looked up from her console. "N2 mine detonated. Electromagnetic pulse incoming!"

Moments later, the video feeds were replaced by loud static. Lights flickered as the shockwave played havoc with the electrical grid. For a few moments, the room was completely silent.

Non-Nuclear high-yield explosives, or N2 for short, were the most power strategic weapons allowed by the UN. When detonated, they caused explosions in the kiloton range, though without the residual radioactivity of nuclear weapons. This lack of fallout did not, however, diminish their destructive power.

The general on the lower level raised his fist in triumph. "Yes! We did it!" he glanced up to the two men on the highest level. "Too bad, Ikari."

Commander Ikari stared at the screen full of static. "Hmmm."

Several seconds passed, and the room fell silent. Everyone in the room turned to look at the video feed as well. When the feed returned, it showed a blasted hellscape where a peaceful rolling countryside had been before. A large crater had been blasted into the hills, and the trees were sticks of charcoal laid flat around it for hundreds of meters. At the center of the devastation, standing intact and defiant, was the angel. Gill-like structures on its shoulders opened and closed with the rhythm of breathing.

One of the men seated next to the general stood in surprise. "No! it's not possible!"

The shouts of the technicians immediately began once again.

"No affect on the target!"

"Target appears to be venting heat. It's moving again!"

Several minutes passed in complete anarchy. The general and other olive-suited men began arguing, then one of them picked up a desk phone and spoke to a person on the other end of the line. The technicians continued to announce their reports, their voices overlapping at a frantic pace. All the time, the blinking dot on the holographic map moved ever closer to the center.

Finally, the general hung up the desk phone and turned to look up at Commander Ikari. "We have exhausted all our options. As of this moment, we are transferring control of this operation to NERV. I hope this toy of yours really works, commander."

Beneath his folded hands, a smile spread across commander Ikari's face.

"Unit 0 is still in stasis," the grey haired man commented. As the commander remained silent, he came to a realization. "You can't mean to activate Unit 1? Rei can't pilot. She's still injured from the activation test."

Finally, commander Ikari replied. "A new pilot has been located. I've just received word that he will be delivered shortly." As he spoke, he rose and crossed to a small lift built into the platform's floor. "Fuyutsuki?"

The grey-haired man straightened. "Yes?"

"I have preparations to make. I leave the rest in your hands."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "Understood."

Commander Ikari pressed a button and the lift descended, into the floor and out of sight.

* * *

When they finally skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill, both Shinji and Misato had been thrown off of the bike. Despite Misato's best efforts, the two of them had spun out and tumbled down the slope. The hill had taken the brunt of the explosion, fortunately. Only a small fraction of the shockwave's force had struck them, and virtually none of the bomb's heat. The guard railing on the road above them, however, had been twisted out of place and thrown a hundred yards past them.

With a groan, the two of them rose to their feet. Misato brushed herself off, sending off clouds of dust and wincing as she touched a scrape on her knee. "Well, that was exciting!"

Shinji gripped his shoulder. "Ow. That was scary."

Crossing to the motorcycle, Misato examined it. Most of the damage seemed to be superficial, with deep dents and scratches on its body panels and a sizeable gouge in its windscreen. She was also not sure about the shock absorbers; they had slammed down hard several times during their descent, and even the reinforced pistons were not meant to handle such rough treatment. But it looked like it would still run, and that was the important part.

With a grunt of exertion, she righted the bike and threw her leg over it. She glanced down the dirt track. "It looks like this road leads back up to the highway after a bit," she commented. "If we're in luck, we won't lose too much time."

"Shouldn't we wait for someone to come find us?" Shinji asked. "After an explosion like that, we should stay put."

"We need to get to NERV now, don't we?" she pointed out. "I mean, Tokyo-3 is the safest place to be."

The boy looked pale and clammy from their experience. Reluctantly, Shinji climbed back on the motorcycle behind her. Immediately she restarted the motor, shifted into gear, and took off once more.

Their ride the rest of the way was much rougher. The fall from the explosion had definitely damaged the shock absorbers. Every slight bump in the road jostled them, and Misato was forced to reduce speed just to keep from wiping out. All the while, the sounds of explosions and enormous footfalls echoed from behind them. Clearly the N2 mine had done nothing to slow the angel's advance. That gave her a rush of fear. If strategic weapons could not destroy it, then what could? Hopefully Commander Ikari and NERV had some plan for this. She had overheard uncle Kaji and Dr. Akagi talking about something called "Evangelions," but what they were and how they could possibly help, she had no idea.

They rounded one final curve in the road. A few hundred yards away was a tunnel in the side of a mountain, and inside it the train station leading directly to NERV central command. Desperately wanting to reach the safety of the high-speed train to Tokyo-3, Misato gunned the engine once more, bringing the bike up to full speed. In a matter of seconds, they were through the mouth of the tunnel and safe. Artificial lights flashed by overhead, their dim amber bands flickering across the bike's windscreen. When Misato had made her way into the city that morning, it had taken her ten minutes to walk through the tunnel, but on the motorcycle that same trip was a matter of seconds.

The tunnel ended abruptly at a train station. A heavy car train was waiting there, its doors wide open. Misato swerved and braked. The motorcycle's tires skidded and squealed as they slid across the platform and into the train. As they passed through the train car's doors, she realized that she had misjudged the distance. She heard a crunch as the bike's wheels crashed into the steel of the train car's far wall. An oily liquid began to leak onto the floor. That had done it: the bike's shock absorbers were really and truly shot. At least they had made it to the train.

Shinji was ashen and ever so slightly green as he climbed off the motorcycle. "Let's never do that again!"

Misato frowned. "You're no fun, you know that?"

The boy winced once again. He settled back against the side of the train car and said nothing more. The doors closed, and the train moved away from the station.

Misato was baffled by the boy, his reactions, and his very presence. Was he really the Commander's son? She thought back to her few interactions with the man. He had been cold and distant, but with a settled confidence. This boy, by contrast, seemed to wince at every challenge presented to him, no matter how exciting it might seem.

Deep down, she wondered what had prompted the commander to call him to Tokyo-3. There had to be a reason, but whatever it was she could not see it.

Ten minutes later, the train burst out of its dark, narrow tunnel and into the light. The train was running on a track suspended from the ceiling of an enormous cavern. A smooth dome enclosed a space kilometers wide. A city hung suspended from its ceiling, with inverted skyscrapers dangling like manmade stalactites. Far below them, the floor of the cavern had been sculpted into a natural-looking landscape, complete with rolling hills and a lake. At its center was a pyramid-shaped building at the edge of an inverted pyramid-shaped pit. A dozen large windows ringed the city, giving the cavern natural light from the surface.

Shinji rushed to the nearest window, excitement and wonder on his face. "Wow! A real geofront! I never thought I'd see something like this in real life!"

Misato grinned. "Welcome to Tokyo-3! And NERV!"

* * *

After twenty minutes of wandering through various elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks, Shinji was beginning to suspect they were lost.

"Umm, Misato, are you sure you know your way around here?"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied, clearly distracted, "I'm just a little turned around right now. They make this place so big and confusing."

Shinji shrugged. This girl was strange. She was so confident and friendly, but there was also something off about her he could not quite place. At least she had brought him to the facility; that was all that really mattered.

The NERV facility was an enormous labyrinth of corridors, open bays, and artificial canyons. Some sections were little more than a scaffolding of I-beams and poured concrete, clearly still under construction. Escalators and moving walkways spanned the largest of the gaps, connecting a collection of balconies and landings which led to the more developed areas. What few areas were complete had a utilitarian feel, with modular steel panel walls, modular linoleum tile floors, and modular steel panel ceilings with industrial fluorescent light fixtures. Every corridor looked identical to every other one, with nothing to distinguish them but a set of letters and numbers painted onto the walls.

The escalator dumped them on a small platform which led to a network of walkways and platforms. Misato looked from side to side, examining their possible routes. There was not a single other person in sight.

"It's got to be around here somewhere. Come on, I think it's this lift here."

Shinji followed her reluctantly. As the elevator doors closed, Shinji watched Misato choose a level. Instead of the typical columns of buttons for individual floors, the lift had a ten-button keypad. As he watched, she typed "22" into it and hit enter. Moments later the lift shuddered to life and shot downward at an alarming speed. As he leaned on the wall for support, he noticed the words "Lift C-53" painted on the side wall.

"How big is this place?" he asked.

Misato shrugged. "Central Dogma—his pyramid—is where all the important stuff is housed, but it pretty much takes up all of the geo front. Tokyo-3 is supposed to be some sort of fortress against the angels or something."

The lift continued downward, floors ticking by in mere seconds. Misato tapped her foot impatiently. Shinji still had no idea how she fit into what was happening, but against all odds she seemed to be involved with his father's company. Somehow.

"How exactly do you know so much about all of this?" he asked.

Before she had a chance to reply, the lift stopped. Misato stiffened as the elevator door opened to reveal a tall woman with bleached blonde hair and a white lab coat.

"D-d-dr. Akagi" Misato exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting to see you here!"

"I could say the same for you. You know you're not supposed to be running around this facility without supervision."

"It was sort of an emergency. We were trying to find our way to the command center."

Dr. Akagi sighed. "It's a good thing Kaji called ahead, or we wouldn't have known where you were. Just where was it you ran off to this morning?"

Misato laughed a little too loud. "Well, you know, I just wanted to get out of town for a day. I was going to take the train back, but, well, then everything shut down, and one thing led to another. I wasn't expecting an angel to attack like that."

"At least your trip wasn't completely pointless." The doctor looked at Shinji. "So, this is the third child?"

"He's the kid uncle Kaji was supposed to pick up," Misato agreed.

"Hello ma'am!" Shinji introduced himself. "I'm Ikari Shinji."

The blonde nodded a greeting. "I'm Dr. Akagi Ritsuko. You showed up just in time, Shinji." She motioned for the two of them to follow her. "This way."

Dr. Akagi led them through a series of moving walkways and two separate escalators to a far more inhabited area of the facility. The trip took a remarkably short time, and before long they found themselves at yet another lift. This one was far larger, open-sided, clearly meant for moving very large objects. As Dr. Akagi pulled a lever to make the lift descend, she began to talk.

"We're preparing our counterattack against the angel right now. Everything is set to launch, as soon as the commander gives the word."

"This mysterious 'Evangelion' project you've all been working on?" Misato asked. "Isn't it dangerous to use it"

"The chance of successful activation is 0.0000001%" she explained.

Shinji spoke up. "So you mean it doesn't work?"

Dr. Akagi shrugged. "Well, it's not a _zero_ chance."

The elevator came to a halt with a splash and a harsh chemical odor wafted into Shinji's nose. The three of them stood on a bridge over a pool of dark liquid in a dark room. He could not see anything else, not even the outlines of the walls. Then, with a loud click, spotlights snapped on. Shinji found himself staring into the face of a purple, armored helmet the size of a small house. It was sculpted into a terrifying face, with deep-set eyes, a jagged mouth, and a single horn projecting from its forehead. As the lights slowly brightened to their full intensity, Shinji realized what he was looking at. It appeared to be a giant suit of armor, almost a hundred meters tall, submerged up to its neck in a crimson liquid. Large pylons projected from its shoulders, jutting up to connect with a metal cage which held the armor in place.

He heard Misato exclaim next to him. "Th-this is…!"

Shinji's eyes grew wide. "A giant robot? What is this?"

Dr. Akagi looked up at the large suit with a look of pride. "This is mankind's ultimate weapon against the angels. The artificial cybernetic lifeform Evangelion!"

"This is what my father was working on?"

A voice boomed from speakers set into the walls. "That is correct!"

Shinji's gaze snapped up to try and find who had spoken. At the top of the room was what seemed to be an observation lounge, its large windows looking out across the Evangelion and pool of liquid. Standing at the windows was a familiar figure with a dark beard and orange-tinted glasses: Shinji's father. Shinji had not seen him in almost ten years. He had changed very little from what he could remember, perhaps gaining a small amount of weight but otherwise the same. His demeanor certainly had not changed: Ikari Gendo stared down at Shinji with the same cold expression he always had.

His father continued. "Evangelion Unit 01 was built to fight against the angels. You will pilot it."

Shinji finally found his voice to call back up. "Father! Is this the reason you wanted me to come here?"

"Correct." His father's voice remained cold and impassive. "I had a use for you. That's the only thing which is important."

"But I can't!" Shinji protested. "I've never even seen something like this!"

What little hope Shinji had held of reconnecting with his father had evaporated. Of course his father would not have called him there for something so sentimental, something so _human_. He never contacted Shinji unless he wanted something. Still, this went far beyond anything he could have imagined.

"You just need to sit in the cockpit," Dr. Akagi added, "That's all we're expecting."

"But…but…" Shinji stammered. He could feel panic rising within him. "I can't!" he finally shouted.

"Then leave! If you are not going to pilot, then I have no use for you."

Several seconds passed in shocked silence. This was cold, even for his father. To be called in so callously, then expected to pilot a weapon he had never seen before against an indestructible enemy, it was far more than he could stand. He felt closed in on all sides. His father wanted him to pilot, and so did this Dr. Akagi. Shinji looked around the room for anyone who might be on his side. The girl who had brought him to the facility had been silent for quite a long time. Where had she disappeared to?

He finally found her crouched against the wall, hugging herself as she shivered. The girl's cheery demeanor had evaporated, and she had begun to mutter. "Dad? Dad? Where are you? Adam…Adam…Adam…"

He called over to her. "Misato?"

The girl did not respond, just kept muttering to herself.

Up in the observation lounge, his father pressed a button on the comm system beside him. "Rei, the new pilot is unusable. You will pilot."

A thin, musical voice replied. "Right."

His father turned back to glare down at Shinji. After a minute of silence, a door to one side of the room opened and a gurney was wheeled out. As it passed him, Shinji caught a glimpse of the girl lying on it.

He was shocked when he saw her. She seemed to be roughly his age. Her hair was a pale blue, her eyes crimson, and her skin an albino white. It was the girl he had thought he had seen back in the city, just before his first encounter with Misato. Here she was, in the flesh. Most of her body was covered in bandages, and a thick cast covered one of her arms. An IV drip bag hung from a pole on the corner of the gurney, and a repetitive beeping emerged from a heart monitor. She looked up at him with an expressionless gaze, not unlike a broken doll.

Suddenly, the entire chamber shook as the sound of an explosion echoed from high above. The blue-haired girl was knocked from the gurney, crying out in pain as she struck the ground. Without thinking, Shinji ran over to her and gently lifted the girl to a seated position. She continued to wince in pain as he cradled her in his arms. Shinji saw blood seeping through her bandages, coating his arms and hands.

Moments later, a panicked voice blared over the intercom. "Commander! The Angel has reached Tokyo-3"

Another explosion rocked the room. Ducts and metal struts, loosened by the tremors, bent and fell. There was no time for Shinji to run out of the way. He raised his arm instinctively to cover his head against inevitably being crushed by falling debris.

The liquid around the bridge suddenly rolled as a purple-armored hand emerged, reaching up to cover Shinji. The debris bounced harmlessly off its fingers, splashing down to either side of the bridge.

Dr. Akagi called out from the other side of the room. "Unit 01 activated on its own! That should be impossible!"

Shinji glanced back and forth between the bleeding girl in his arms, the panicking girl against his wall, his father glaring coldly down at him, and the Evangelion which had just protected him. All of them were counting on him to pilot the Evangelion, each in their own way.

 _I mustn't run away,_ he thought to himself, _I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away!"_

"Okay," he said out loud, "I'll do it!"


	4. 2A: The First Seal

2A: The First Seal

The entry plug—what Dr. Akagi called the cockpit—was a narrow and cramped tube. Suspended in its center was an ergonomic seat sculpted to fit Shinji's arms and legs at a comfortable angle. A pair of simple pistol-grip controllers were attached just below the arm rests, with a trigger on each one. Shinji climbed awkwardly into the seat. Grabbing one of the pistol grips, Shinji tested it. It slid freely along a rail embedded in the console

He wondered how he was supposed to pilot such a complex thing with just simple controls and two buttons. More than that, however, he wondered how he was supposed to pilot it without being able to see. There was nothing resembling a window or viewscreen, just the metallic walls of the entry plug. He hoped he had made the right decision to pilot the Eva, but he was already beginning to have reservations.

* * *

In NERV's Command Center, Misato watched the proceedings from a seat along the wall. Uncle Kaji and Dr. Akagi stood at the center of the main floor, directing a dozen technicians as they prepared the Evangelion for launch.

"T-minus 1 minute 40 seconds and counting." one of them announced.

Misato was both curious about what they were doing and yet afraid of interfering. More than anything, however, she felt humiliated. Her memories were a blur after seeing the Evangelion. She vaguely remembered a gurney being wheeled into the room and everything shaking. She also had a mental image of the Evangelion moving to protect someone, but she was not sure if that was a real memory or a dream. Her mind had wandered back into her past at that point, thinking of the time before she had arrived at NERV, before the vague floating which had followed the incident.

Someone, probably Dr. Akagi, had led her up to the command center. After Uncle Kaji had arrived she had managed to smile at him, and even recovered some of her ability to think clearly. But every time she thought about the Evangelion she shuddered. Its silhouette was too similar to the creature which haunted her nightmares, to _that_. Her father had called it Adam, the first angel and the father of humanity.

The technicians ignored her as they performed their various tasks, calling out reports both to Kaji and Ritsuko as well as the commanders seated high above them all.

"Eva Unit 01 activation proceeding without incident."

"Circuits 1 through 26 engaged."

"Synaptic activity nominal. Neural uplink prepared."

Kaji tapped a control panel to activate the comm system. "Alright there, Shinj?"

A video feed from inside Unit 01's entry plug appeared on the screen. Shinji seemed uncomfortable and confused. "How is this supposed to work?"

One of the technicians called out, "Injecting LCL."

On the monitor, Misato could see the entry plug fill with an orange liquid. Shinji began to panic, holding his breath as the liquid flooded up past his head.

"Just relax," Kaji told him. "Once your lungs fill with LCL, your blood will be oxygenated directly; it's far more efficient than air.

Shinji released a stream of bubbles as he inhaled the liquid. He looked around in curiosity. Misato thought she heard him mutter, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Another technician called out. "Energizing LCL. Establishing neural uplink."

The orange liquid momentarily glowed in prismatic colors before becoming transparent. At the same moment, Shinji was surrounded by a video feed which wrapped around the entry plug's interior. It was hard to tell from where Misato sat, but it seemed to show the room around the Eva, as if the entry plug were a glass sphere located within the head.

One of the technicians typed rapidly on her console. "Moving Unit 01 to the catapult. Bolts locked into place, ready to launch."

With a nod, uncle Kaji declared, "Launch the Eva!"

On one of the smaller monitor screens, Misato saw the Eva harnessed into an alcove on the wall. At uncle Kaji's command sparks flew from the rails behind it as the Eva was propelled upward at an alarming speed.

That was it then. The Eva, their last hope, was away. Misato tried in vain to calm herself. She gripped the cross pendant she still wore, the one given to her by her father. It was the last momento she had of him or of the time before the endless drifting, and the only thing which had washed ashore with her. Misato was not certain whether she believed in a god or not, but the pendant comforted her nonetheless.

She hoped Shinji could do something. For all of their sakes.

* * *

When the catapult slammed to a stop, Shinji found himself on the surface. Night had fallen, and the area was lit only by artificial lights. Some distance away was the angel. For the first time, Shinji had a good look at it. It was a hunched, hulking creature with rubbery, moist, amphibian skin. The mask-like face seemed to have been damaged from the N2 explosion. It had been pushed aside, and a new face had grown in its place. It was a horrendous, alien creature, like something out of a late night monster movie.

The center of the city was made of what seemed to be shorter to mid-size high-rises. The tallest of them rose only to the Eva's chest, perhaps ten or fifteen stories. Shinji was still not certain how he was supposed to even move the Eva, let alone use it to fight. He knew absolutely nothing about the Eva, angels, or NERV, and he was regretting his decision to climb in the cockpit.

Kaji's voice emerged from the com system once more. "Alright, don't worry about the angel over there just yet. For the time being, just focus on walking. Think 'walk.' You can do this, just remember to take it slow."

"Umm, okay," he replied. Shinji was not sure what that would accomplish, but he was willing to give it a try. _Walk_ , he thought, _walk now_.

Shinji felt the Eva shift around him as it lifted its foot, swung its leg forward, and took heasitant, shaky step. He was filled with joy. He had done it! That thought was his undoing. The Eva took another step, this one careless, and lost its balance. The Eva tipped and began to fall. Shinji panicked, gripping the controllers tightly. The Eva slammed into the ground face first, crushing the pavement of the road beneath him.

Kaji's voice emerged from the com once more. "You alright, kid? You have to get back up. Your mind is linked directly to the Eva. If you remain calm and focus, you'll be able to feel what it does, and command it like it's your own body."

 _Get up_ , Shinji thought, _I need to get up!_

Slowly, reluctantly the Eva rose onto hands and knees, then looked up. He was just in time to see the angel rushing toward him. Shinji tried to move the Eva's hands up to defend himself, but it was too late. The angel grabbed the Eva's forearm and tugged. Immediately, Shinji felt pain shooting up his own arm. The feedback from the neural link—it felt so real! With a groan and then a horrible cracking sound, the Eva's limb broke and bent. It was horrible; Shinji could feel the damage as if it was his own bones splintering. He screamed and grabbed at his arm.

"Stay calm, Shinji," Kaji told him. "That's not really your arm. You need to get up and get away from the angel."

The angel gripped the Eva's face and lifted it into the air. Shinji felt the vertebrae of his neck stretch. There was a blinding light, and Shinji felt a sharp pain shoot straight through his right eye and out the back of his skull. He was beyond trying to control the Eva at that point, beyond any rational thought. Shinji felt the Eva—no, himself, thrown backward. As both of them struck their head against a building, blackness enveloped him.

* * *

Shinji's eyes suddenly flew open, and he found himself staring at a white tiled drop ceiling. He was lying on a spongy bed with crisp, starched sheets. Sunlight streamed in through large windows. The air smelled of antiseptic, and somewhere to his right he heard the repetitive beeping of a heart monitor. It was an unfamiliar room, but he could guess what sort of place he was in. A hospital.

Shinji sat up, trying to remember what had happened. Everything after the angel had thrown him against the building was a blur. He had vague impressions of disjointed images and the feeling of a deep, primal rage burning within him. He clutched his arm, right where he had felt pain during the attack. It seemed to be fine: no pain as he flexed his fingers. That had been such a bizarre experience, he could not decide if it had been a dream or not.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of movement. He looked up, almost immediately realizing what it was. The door was open a crack, and he saw and eye and the edge of a face staring at him. Not quite sure what to do, he simply stared back.

After another second the door flew open and Misato rushed in, skidding to a halt just at the edge of Shinji's bed.

"Finally awake, sleepyhead? We've all been waiting for hours!"

She seemed to be back to her former, cheerful self. She had a short red jacket on over her tank top, but seemed otherwise unchanged from the first time he had seen her. Had she really broken down when she saw the Eva, or was that just a false memory?

Shinji rubbed his temples. He was still having difficulty remembering the fight. "What happened?"

"Oh, they pulled you out of the Eva after the battle," she replied dismissively. "Apparently you were unconscious, so they brought you to the hospital. That was amazing, how you beat that thing!"

"I…what?"

Misato continued as if he had not spoken. "At first we all thought you wouldn't be able to fight it, but when you made the Eva go berserk like that it was really something else. And the smashing with the ribs too. Then that whole explosion happened, and the Eva just walked out like it was nothing! That whole thing was so _metal!_ "

Shinji was not certain he wanted to remember the fight now. "Am I free to go?" he asked. He wanted to get out of the hospital, away from everyone, and just be by himself for a while.

"Oh, you should be once the doctor clears you. Shouldn't take too long. Uncle Kaji's going to pick us up and take us back to headquarters."

It took several minutes for Misato to return with the doctor, and several more before he told Shinji that he could leave. Misato led him down the stark white corridors of the hospital and out toward the front doors. As they passed through the lobby, Shinji caught sight of his father talking to the blue-haired girl, Rei. The cold glare that his father gave him told Shinji everything he needed to know. Shinji looked away quickly, following Misato out into the sunlight.

As they reached the curb, Misato glanced across the small turnaround. After a few seconds, she let out an exasperated sigh. "Of course he's late. Why would uncle Kaji _ever_ be on time?" Pulling a cellphone from her pocket she dialed and held it to her ear. She tapped her foot impatiently. "Come on, pick up." another minute passed in silence before she disconnected. "No answer. What's he even doing?" She huffed. "Looks like we'll just have to walk it."

Shinji said nothing, simply followed Misato's lead. The two of them walked out along a deserted road. They passed no one, and the only sound was the drone of cicadas. It seemed to be mid-afternoon judging from the sun and heat. Shinji felt like he was sleepwalking; any moment he expected to wake up and find everything had been a dream. At this point he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts, to make sense of the flooded mess of memories from the battle.

Misato fanned herself as she lagged back to fall into step beside him. "This sucks. And I can't believe they made me hand the bike over to the police! It was so cool!"

"Well, we just borrowed it from someone," Shinji pointed out, "and you're not old enough to have a license anyway."

"I was so looking forward to fixing and tuning it," she mused. "The shocks would be an expensive but quick fix. You know uncle Kaji taught me how to work on bikes. I can take them to bits and put them back together without problems."

"Couldn't you build your own then?"

"It wouldn't be half as cool as that one," she lamented. "Whoever owned that thing, they clearly knew what they were doing and didn't mind spending all their money on it."

They walked along in silence for a while. Even still, the streets were deserted. At one point several helicopters passed overhead, but there were no pedestrians and no cars. It was as if all of humanity had vanished from the city, leaving Shinji and Misato alone.

"I think commander Ikari has an apartment inside NERV headquarters itself," Misato said. "You're lucky that you'll be in the center of everything."

Shinji shook his head. "No, wherever I'm going to stay, it won't be with him."

Misato missed a step as she heard that. Immediately she rounded on him, a shocked look on her face. "What, you mean you're going to be staying on your own?!"

"I've been alone for a while now," he explained. He did not know why he was telling her this. She had a way of pushing past his defenses and making him reveal far more than he was comfortable doing. He did not want anyone knowing too much about him, but here he was, talking to this girl he barely knew.

"Then where are you going to be staying?" she pressed.

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. They'll probably put me in a room somewhere, if not I'll figure something out."

She lapsed into silence, frowning in thought as she walked along. At least Shinji no longer had to say anything, but the new silence worried him. This girl seemed to thrive on being loud and outgoing. Seeing her suddenly stop speaking made him wonder what she was thinking.

* * *

The tension in the darkened room was so thick it could almost be seen. Six spots around the table were lit from below, five of them filled by the holographic images of men rendered in monochrome primary colors. Only two real humans were in the room. Gendo Ikari sat in the final lighted chair, while Fyutsuki stood at attention directly behind him. All else was shrouded in darkness, as if the table were floating in an infinite black void.

One of the color-coded holograms shook his head. "This council isn't questioning your results, Ikari, but your methods are inefficient. You squander resources which could be put to better use."

The man to his left added, "Repair costs for unit 01, on top of the already significant amount invested in developing the Eva series, is staggering."

"Your decision to entrust that toy to your son is also questionable," interjected a third. "Considering his abysmal performance in the first engagement."

The man at the head of the table spoke up. "Time, money and manpower have all been invested just for you to throw them away."

Gendo remained unfazed by their criticism. "Nevertheless, the angel was defeated, and the concept of the Evas has been proven. As we gather more data and the pilots become more experienced, we will become more efficient at killing them."

The last of the five members spoke up. "There is also the question of the Katsuragi girl. It's been almost two months since you recovered her, and she's provided very few details about the incident."

"You still refuse to let us interrogate her?" added the man at the head of the table.

"The girl is of no concern to you or the council," Gendo assured them, "She will tell us whatever she knows soon enough."

"Watch yourself, Ikari," the first replied. "We will not allow our plans to be interrupted by anyone. The Human Instrumentality Project must go forward. Don't forget that _that_ is your real task. If that girl knows something which might jeopardize our plans and you keep it from us, we'll find out."

The man at the head of the table glared across to Gendo. "Don't give us reason to doubt you."

"Rest assured," Gendo replied, "I remain as committed to your scenario as I ever was."

"Your presence here was…appreciated," said the second man to speak, "The rest of this meeting does not concern you. You may go."

With that, the lights beneath the five men faded and their holograms vanished. Gendo and Fyutsuki were left alone in the darkened room. For a long time, neither said a word.

Fyutsuki finally broke the silence. "That girl wasn't predicted in the dead sea scrolls. Her presence could complicate matters, and it's made the council worried."

Gendo nodded. "Indeed. It would seem that the prophecy is incomplete."

"We're already under enough scrutiny from them. Keeping too much information from them would be imprudent."

"They know as much as we do, at the moment. Technically we have been entirely forthright."

Fyutsuki scowled. "You can't think they'll be satisfied with that."

"No, but it will buy us time, and freedom to investigate further." Gendo adjusted his glasses. "We cannot plan an effective strategy without a complete picture. We need more information. The dead sea scrolls are a start, but we need to trace them back to their origin. Only when we have the original document in our hands can we revise our own scenario."

"I have some old friends at Kyoto University who might be able to help us with that," Fyutsuki offered.

"Contact them immediately," Gendo commanded, "and make sure that they stay quiet about any discoveries. When the old men on the council find out about our investigations, I'd like to have a censored version of the final document ready for them. Knowledge is power, and any knowledge we can keep out of their hands is power we have over them."

* * *

Shinji was not sure if he was happy to be back at NERV headquarters or not. On one hand it meant he was that much closer to reaching whatever apartment had been put aside for him. Once there, he could be alone, stare at another unfamiliar ceiling, and try to make sense of his thoughts. On the other, it meant he was back where his father was, back where everyone was expecting him to do the impossible.

At the very least, being in the geo front let them escape the midday heat. Shinji was drenched in sweat from walking all the way to headquarters. Having Misato only a few centimeters away certainly did not help either.

"You don't have to walk me any farther," he told her, "I can make it from here and find out where I'll be staying."

"Eh, I don't mind," she replied. Misato shifted against the edge of the escalator as they descended into the building. She seemed distracted, the barest hint of worry breaking through her cheerfulness. After another few minutes of silence, she finally spoke once more. "You know, you really shouldn't be staying by yourself."

"It would only cause problems if I had to stay with my father," Shinji explained. "He doesn't want me."

A look crossed her face, as if she wanted to say something, but did not know how. "But..that's just too sad."

He shrugged. "I'm alone anyway, so it's natural."

Misato glowered. "So you're just going to shuffle off and stay on your own? No argument? No protest?"

Shinji nodded. "It's better that way, if I just—"

Before he could finish, she grabbed his hands and bluted out, "Come live with me!"

The words shocked Shinji, leaving him with a buzzing feeling behind his ears. blood rose into Shinji's cheeks. Had he really just heard her say that? Even Misato seemed shocked by her boldness.

"I-I couldn't!" he stammered.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Now the blood really _was_ rising to his cheeks. "I mean you're a…and I'm a…At any rate, they'd never allow it, and I barely know you!"

"You don't know anyone else here either," she pointed out. "It's just uncle Kaji and me in a huge apartment. There's plenty of room, it won't be a problem."

So the two of them would not be _entirely_ alone. That made Shinji feel better. And it did not seem like Misato was going to take no for an answer.

Shinji shrugged. "I guess it'll be alright then."

As they reached the bottom of the escalator, Misato beamed, her normal mood reasserting itself. "Awesome! Just leave everything to me! I'll let uncle Kaji know and we can set everything up" She glanced around at the empty hallway. "If we can ever _find_ him, that is."


	5. 2B: Connect the Dots

2B: Connect the Dots

"Details are still emerging about yesterday's state of emergency. Officials thus far have not given any details about its cause, but have stated that no casualties have thus far been reported. We will keep you updated as the story develops."

The TV continued to blare its messages throughout the tent.

"Model scenario B-22," Kaji commented, "Good to see the propaganda machine is working properly."

"The less the public knows about NERV and the angels, the more free we are to operate," Ritsuko explained.

The two of them sat under a pavilion tent on the edge of the devastated portion of Tokyo-3. It was hard to believe that less than a day before, it had been a living and thriving district of the city. It was a testament to the sheer power of their enemies. Both Kaji and Ritsuko were dressed in orange biohazard suits, their hoods momentarily set aside as they relaxed. Dozens of other orange-suited figures walked through the devastated landscape, searching the wreckage.

"There's practically nothing left of the angel," she commented. Glancing around at the destroyed buildings, she added, "this will take a long time to repair."

"At least the construction companies will get to milk the rebuild costs," Kaji replied, "Someone will get a healthy paycheck from it."

"Just in time for the next angel to knock it down, probably."

Kaji chuckled. "Humanity's too stupid to realize when we shouldn't rebuild something. It's how we've survived this long."

Kaji's cellphone rang. Picking it up from the table, he read the caller ID. "Ah, it's Misato. The commander's son must have finally woken up." He pressed the answer button and placed it to his ear. In a cheerful voice, he said, "Hello, you've reached Kaji Ryouji. I can't come to the phone right now, but please leave a message."

Misato's voice blared from the tiny phone speaker. "Cut the crap, I've been trying to call you for like two hours! Where were you? I thought you were supposed to swing by the hospital and pick us up?"

"I'm still at work here ," he replied, "There's a lot to do for the salvage and cleanup."

"Sure there is," Misato said dismissively, "Anyway, that's not important right now. I'm here at NERV HQ with Shinji. I have an idea, and there's something I need you to do."

Misato briefly explained her idea. At first, Kaji was unsure of it, but as she told him about Shinji's situation he began to see the logic of it. By the time she had finished, he agreed with her.

"As soon as I'm done with work here, I'll make the arrangements," he finally replied. "Just sit tight for now." Kaji disconnected the call. He shook his head in incredulity. "Crazy kids. There'll be some sort of a scandal in this if I don't get involved."

"I can finish up here, if you need to head out," Ritsuko offered.

"I'd better, before those two can get into more trouble. So, drinks at the usual place tonight?"

"That sounds fantastic!"

* * *

Once uncle Kaji had arrived, everything was swiftly arranged. Misato and Shinji rode back of Kaji's car, leaning against opposite windows. Shinji did not seem like he wanted to talk, simply looking out the window and watching the landscape. For her own part, Misato was ready to head back home. The walk to NERV had left her exhausted. All she really wanted was to just flop down on her bed, grab a magazine, and read until she passed out.

At one point, Shinji glanced over to her. She smiled at him, but he looked away quickly. Misato wondered what he was thinking about. After everything he had gone through in less than 24 hours, he probably had a great deal on his mind.

It took Misato several minutes to realize that uncle Kaji had turned onto the highway and was headed away into the countryside.

"Hey, this isn't the way home!" She exclaimed.

"I know," Kaji replied. "I want to show you two something."

Misato fell silent, curious where they were headed. She was even more curious when uncle Kaji pulled off to the side of the road on a nondescript section of highway. He motioned for Misato and Shinji to follow him, then led them to a guard railing which looked out over Tokyo-3.

Uncle Kaji looked at his watch. "Ah, good, we timed it just perfect!"

A loud siren whined to life, echoing through the surrounding hills. Moments later, hatches opened in the ground and motors roared to life. The central buildings of the city rose from their protective shafts, doubling in height in mere seconds. By the time the first of them stopped, it towered over everything in the surrounding landscape and gleamed in the late afternoon sun.

"The city's growing out of the ground!" Shinji exclaimed.

"This is Tokyo-3 as it normally is," Kaji told him, "The city is a fortress designed to defend against the Angels. The city you saved."

* * *

Misato cheerfully threw open the door to the third-floor apartment. "here we are! Our humble little apartment." She kicked off her sneakers at the edge of the welcome mat and turned back to look at Shinji. The boy seemed nervous, fidgeting on the doorstep. "Well, come on in."

Shinji stepped hesitantly through the door. "Please excuse the intrusion."

"Don't be so polite," she chided him, "This is where you live now, act like it."

"Right, sorry," he apologized.

"Why do keep apologizing for everything?"

"I can't help it, it's what I do."

"Well you can just relax when you're here. Try again."

Shinji took a deep breath and stepped through the door. "I'm home!"

Misato nodded. "That's better!"

After a moment to allow Shinji to remove his shoes, she led him through the kitchen and into the living room. Shinji continued to fidget, clearly still uncomfortable in his new surroundings. She could not entirely blame him for being nervous. After all, she had only been living in the apartment for two months, and it had only just started feeling like home to her.

By Japanese standards, the place was enormous. Its living room alone was twelve-and-a-half tatami, the size of an average apartment. That was in addition to the combination kitchen and dining area, the bathroom, and four bedrooms.

Kaji had told them he would be home late. He had not given any more details, but Misato knew immediately what it meant. He and Dr. Akagi were going on another bar crawl. Chances were he would not be home until morning; he made no secret about the fact he was together with the doctor. Misato was not quite sure how she felt about their relationship. She liked Dr. Akagi well enough, but for some reason she felt incredibly sad every time she saw the two of them together.

"This is great!" she exclaimed. "We have the whole place to ourselves for the night!"

"I hope your uncle won't mind me staying here," Shinji replied. "I mean, I'm not family."

"oh, he's not _really_ my uncle. He's just been taking care of me, so I call him that." She gestured to the doors and hallway which branched off from the living room. "The room on the left side down the hall is his. You can either take the room on the right, or you can take the one next to mine out here. That way we could stay up at night and talk through the wall."

Shinji blushed. "I-I'll just take the room down the hall."

Misato had to admit, she was ever so slightly disappointed. "We should probably get dinner started sometime soon. Hope you're good with instant and takeout, 'cause that's mostly what we eat around here."

"Actually, if it's alright, could I use the bath first?"

"Go right ahead! Take advantage of anything in here." She winked. "Except me, of course!"

Shinji nodded meekly and crossed back through the dining area and toward the bathroom.

Misato called after him. "Oh, and don't go in the second fridge. The one by the bathroom. There's no food in there."

Shinji gave her a curious look but did not ask anything, simply continued on into the bathroom. Misato sighed. While he was bathing, she might as well start dinner. Her cooking skills were abysmal, but it was nearly impossible to ruin an instant meal, right?

She had barely put the water on when she heard Shinji scream. Moments later, he burst out of the bathroom, entirely naked, gesturing back through the door and stammering. "M-M-Misato! There's a pe-pe-pe…" he seemed unable to form a coherent sentence.

Moments later a medium-sized penguin emerged from the bathroom and crossed to the secondary refrigerator. As the penguin saw Misato it let out a happy squawk. Shinji followed it with his eyes, a look of incredulity on his face.

"Oh, good, he's awake!" Misato said. "Don't mind him, that's Penpen, our other housemate. He's one of those new warm water penguins."

With a last look toward Shinji, Penpen extended a claw to push a button on the refrigerator. A door near its bottom slid open, revealing a small heated nest box. The penguin climbed inside and closed the door behind him.

Misato turned her attention back to Shinji. She desperately tried not to look at anything below his chest, but it was impossible.

"You should probably cover up," she told him.

He tilted his head, clearly not understanding what she meant. "Huh?"

"You'll probably get cold running around without anything on."

Shinji blushed as he suddenly realized he was naked. He let out an involuntary cry and covered himself with his hands. "P-please excuse me." With that, he slid back into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Misato giggled. It looked like living with Shinji was going to be an adventure.

* * *

The bar was located on one of the lowest levels of one of Tokyo-3's many skyscrapers. Even when the building was not retracted, it still hung a significant way into the geofront. The view through the window showed the bottoms of numerous buildings hanging from its domed ceiling and, far below them, the cavern's floor. At this time of night the only lights in the geofront were those of the city and of NERV headquarters far below them.

Kaji sat by a counter looking out at the inverted cityscape, already two beers in by the time his companion arrived. She was disheveled, her labcoat lopsided and wrinkled. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she let out an exasperated sigh as she collapsed onto the stool next to him.

He smiled at her. "Looking good, sunshine!"

Dr. Akagi flipped open a cardboard packet and withdrew a particularly long cigarette, then lit it with a lighter from her pocket. _100's_ , Kaji reflected, _must be a stressful night. Understandable, considering all of the damage caused in the attack._

As she exhaled her first mouthful of smoke, Ritsuko's tension visibly melted away. "Ten hours of salvage and barely a bucket's worth of material to show for it. That angel sure as hell didn't want to make my job easier."

"It's been quite a day for all of us," Kaji added. "For fifteen years this organization spent all of its time waiting, not sure when the attack would come, now finally it's here and we have endless work. I can't even imagine what today was like for the commanders. Makes my job seem simple in comparison."

"Ahh yes, I heard about your new responsibility. The commander just finished transferring custody of his son to you. You'll be his sole guardian and caretaker while he's employed at NERV."

"I can't take all the credit," he admitted. "It was Misato who came up with the idea. From what I understand, the boy never really had a father figure. Or a mother, for that matter. Sad really."

She shot a sidelong smirk at him. "Between the two of them, you're becoming quite the family man."

"Why are you allowing this?"

Dr. Akagi flicked ash into the nearby ashtray and took another long drag. She explained between mouthfuls of smoke. "I guess you could say it's a control mechanism. The commander's son is an unknown and unpredictable factor in an operation that can't afford unpredictable factors. We need to ensure he'll pilot."

"And you think living with a girl his age is going to make him _more_ controllable?"

She shrugged "Male animals tend to fight more ferociously when they think they're protecting a potential mate, not just themselves. Less likely to run away."

Kaji raised an eyebrow. "So what, she's just some prize for him to win? Pilot like a good little monkey and here's a pretty girl for you?"

"You could put it that way if you wanted to be as blunt and sarcastic as possible. Actually, we're hoping the girl might try to convince him to pilot on her own initiative. She knows why our work here is important, and she's so damnably cheerful and outgoing."

"That she is," Kaji admitted. There was more to it than that. He could not shake the sense that her cheer was just a façade.

Dr. Akagi's cigarette had, alarmingly, already been reduced to a stub. She lit another from the end of the first and took a long drag. She let it out in a long puff of smoke.

"Speaking of which, how is our little Venus-in-a-half-shell doing?"

"She hasn't remembered much more, if that's what you mean," Kaji replied

"What else could I possibly mean? NERV has a vested interest in her memories."

Kaji laughed. "A naked girl washes up on a beach and suddenly all of NERV thinks she has something to do with the angels. You people are turning into those nuts that draw red circles on everything, claiming they're seeing bigfoot or aliens.

"You know the truth as well as I do, Kaji. You know who she is. That girl saw second impact. Any detail that she can remember might be important for the survival of mankind.

"The girl who saw Adam," Kaji mused. He thought back to that time, to the chaotic turmoil that had followed Second Impact. He had been a young teenager then, barely into his first year of senior high. The impact had struck them without any warning. Half the world's population, simply wiped away in mere hours. The endless news coverage, the inevitable wars, the constant feelings of uncertainty, it was an experience impossible to describe to those who had not lived through it. Eventually the world had settled down, returning to a form of normality despite all that had happened. A decade after it had begun, everything had seemed so clear cut and laid to rest. Before he had joined NERV, that was. Before a girl named Katsuragi Misato had washed up on a Kanto-area beach.

"Something doesn't sit right," he finally added. "The Katsuragi expedition manifest lists her as fourteen years old. That was fifteen years ago. How does someone vanish for that long and then suddenly turn up again the same age as when they were last seen?"

"Yes, that is a rather curious fact," Dr. Akagi admitted.

Kaji shot her a quizzical look. "What aren't you telling me, Ritsuko?"

"You've been briefed on everything you're cleared to know," she replied. "And to be honest, there's not much more. It's impossible, but telomeres don't lie; she really is the age she looks. And the truth is, we don't know why."

He very much doubted that. He had known Akagi Ritsuko ever since college, seen her go from a shy and quiet student to a confident and determined professional. He knew her better than anyone, and could tell when she was lying. Right now, he could tell she knew something more, but he did not want to press her. Using their relationship as a way to learn classified information was only bound to cause trouble between them, which was not something he wanted to do. Yet.

Risuko started on yet another cigarette, once again lighting it from the burning end of the last. "NERV does have other uses for her. With Unit 00 still in stasis, Ayanami Rei injured, and Unit 02 in Germany, we need a backup."

"You'll be moving ahead with the test, then?"

"It's been slowly warming from cryostasis since the minute the angel was detected. Better two half-functioning units than one half-functioning. Besides, the more pilots we have, the less losing one will hurt us."

"Seems our business is as much about traumatizing kids as it is about stopping the angels."

"We _have_ to use teenagers as pilots," Ritsuko said, "It's unfortunate, but that's the situation we find ourselves in. Either we traumatize them, or all of us die."

The two sat in silent thought for a moment as Kaji nursed his drink and Ritsuko smoked.

"I could always refuse," Kaji pointed out. "As her guardian, I could not let her pilot on the grounds of protecting her mental well-being."

"Hypothetically, you could," she agreed. "But then again, you're only her guardian as long as NERV needs you to be. If you start going against the organization, you can just as easily be removed from that position."

"It's a good thing I'm onboard with the plan then. I should probably break the news to her. It's bound to come as a shock."

Stubbing out her last cigarette, she moved to stand up. "You can let her know tomorrow. So, your place or mine tonight?"

* * *

The Walkman clicked as it reached the end of the DAT cassette and stopped. After a moment and another click it began to rewind. In a minute or two it would reach the beginning of the tape and start over once again. An endless loop of the same songs, over and over again.

Shinji lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling in his new room. An unfamiliar ceiling. It reminded him how very far away he was from where he had lived for the past ten years. Still, it was easier to stare at the ceiling than the empty room around him. Other than the bed, it was completely empty. The Walkman was the only thing he had brought with him on his trip to NERV. He would have to write back to his old guardian and ask him to send over the few things Shinji owned.

He heard light footsteps outside his door. The apartment was otherwise silent; the penguin was asleep and Kaji had not yet returned.

"Shinji?" It was Misato. "Are you awake?"

Shinji turned away from the door and curled up on his side. He did not want to talk to her. He did not want to talk to anyone.

Misato continued despite him not replying. "I…I think it was really brave, what you did up there." Something was different about the quality of her voice. It was more muted, without her usual cheer. "I mean it. You climbed into that Eva not knowing anything about it or the angels and went out there."

There was a thump on the floor and a creak against the door as Misato sat down. Shinji could imagine her hugging her knees as she leaned against the door.

"I couldn't do something like that. I choked up when I just saw the Eva. Couldn't even look at the angel when we were driving away from it. I could never have climbed into the Eva and fought it."

She paused long enough for Shinji to think she was finished.

"Truth is, I'm afraid of the Angels. And the Eva. All of it. You saved us all. I know you probably can't hear me, but I just wanted to say thanks, and hang in there."

After another long pause, Shinji heard her stand up and walk away. Her door slid open and then shut.

With a click, the Walkman reached the beginning of the DAT cassette and began to play once again. Shinji sprawled back out on his back, staring at the ceiling once more. His thoughts turned back to the previous night. What had he done during the fight against the angel? Misato and Kaji said he had saved them, but his father's glare had told Shinji he had done something wrong. He focused on the last thing he could picture clearly, not trying to force the memory but simply letting it come to him.

All of a sudden, the jumbled images and sensations assembled themselves into the right order, and he remembered.

* * *

The Eva was unresponsive, lying slumped against the building, bleeding from its wounds. Shinji felt like he was floating outside of himself: he was not sitting in the entry plug of the Eva, he _was_ the Eva. Ikari Shinji was no more, he was unconscious, there was only Eva Unit 01.

Through the comm system, he heard the panicked voices of the technicians.

"Helmet plating penetrated! The brain case has been damaged! Extent of damage unknown!"

"The synchrograph is inverting. We're having difficulty maintaining activation."

"Break the neural link." Commanded a female voice.

"The Eva is rejecting the signal!"

"What's the status of the pilot?" this came from a man who, in another lifetime, he had known as Kaji.

"All the graphs are dead. Pilot status unknown."

"Rescuing the pilot is our top priority," said the man, "Abort the operation, eject the entry plug!"

"We can't! It's rejecting the signal. it's completely out of control!"

He felt a rage build deep within him, a deep and primal feeling which did not come from Ikari Shinji but from the Eva itself. Completely under his own power, he began to move. His jaw broke free of the metal holding it shut, and he snarled.

Yet another voice spoke on the comm. "Unit 01 is reactivating…it's gone berserk!"

"That's impossible!" exclaimed the man. "How could that happen?"

He felt the broken bones and muscles of his damaged arm knit themselves back together. The only thing which existed for him was himself and the creature a short distance away. He knew only that he had to destroy it.

Crawling to his feet, he rushed the creature, only to be met with a glowing octagonal barrier. He strained against it, trying to fight through an invisible force which was not quite solid. After a moment, he felt a weakening in its center, then a rip. Ever so slowly it gave way. As he tore through, the creature raised its arms to block his advance, but he easily snapped them as he batted them aside. It was at his mercy.

There was a large red sphere on the creature's abdomen. Instinctively, he knew that it was the creature's core: destroy it and it would cease to be. He gripped the rib-like projections which enclosed it, snapped off two of them, and began to beat against the core using the impromptu weapons. The core fractured, new cracks forming with every strike. Another few blows and it would be dead.

At that instant, the creature's eyes glowed. It wrapped its limbs around him, changed shape, and suddenly he was surrounded by light, heat, pressure, and pain. The creature had exploded. He had been caught directly in the blast, but he was, as far as he could tell, unharmed. As the shockwave of the creature's death passed, light streaked upwards from it in a pillar, branching several hundred meters in the air to form a cross.

Undaunted, uninjured, he walked out of the flames and debris which had once been the angel.

As the rage faded, Shinji came to his senses and was once again himself. He was in the entry plug, surrounded by the projected video feed. While unconscious, he had slid to the side, almost falling out of his chair. Righting himself, he tried to regain his bearings.

Shinji could see the Eva in the reflection of the building next to him. As he watched, the damaged helmet fell away, revealing a bald, brownish, fleshy head. The area around the damaged eye bubbled, morphed, and the eye re-formed. Its green, three-lobed iris turned to look at its reflection—seemingly turned to look at Shinji himself—focused, and stared.

And Shinji screamed.


	6. 3A: The Decision Tree

3A: The Decision Tree

As it turned out, Kaji returned home just in time to make breakfast. Shinji heard the door open, and a set of heavy footsteps trudge into the kitchen. Minutes later he heard the stove start and the sizzle of something frying. Whatever Kaji was cooking, it smelled delicious.

With a stretch, Shinji sat up and slid out of bed. Light was streaming in through the small windows, illuminating the empty room. It still looked bleak and unfamiliar, but the natural light made it feel a little friendlier. Maybe living here would not be so bad. He opened his door and walked over to the kitchen.

Kaji stood at the stove, a fork in one hand as he watched the contents of a pan in front of him. A bag of groceries sat on the counter, with a loaf of bread and carton of eggs poking out of its end. Kaji smiled as he turned to see Shinji walking into the room.

"Well, good morning there, Ikari."

"Good morning," Shinji replied.

"I hope you're getting settled in just fine. Sorry I disappeared so quickly, but I figured you'd be exhausted and would want some time to yourself."

"It's quite alright," Shinji replied, "Everything's just fine." Really, he was grateful to Kaji in a way he could never explain. Nothing was more awkward than being forced to make cheerful conversation with a person he knew nothing about.

Behind him in the living room he heard a door slide open and soft footsteps approach. Misato yawned widely as she stumbled past him into the kitchen. Shinji blushed as he saw her. The girl was dressed in nothing but a tank top and panties, one of the top's straps beginning to slip down her shoulder. Ignoring Shinji, she crossed to the dining area table and collapsed into one of the chairs.

"Morning," she mumbled.

"Morning to you too," he replied. "Did you sleep well?"

She shrugged and her tank top strap slid down another few millimeters. "Eh, alright I guess. Same as always."

"No new nightmares? That's good to hear." He reached into the bag of groceries and pulled out a par of eggs. "Hey Shinji, how do you like your eggs?"

"Whatever's easiest for you is fine," he replied.

"I'll take mine over easy," Misato interjected through another yawn.

"six eggs, coming right up!" Kaji exclaimed.

The door to Penpen's nest slid open and, with a loud squawk, the penguin rushed out. In a surprisingly human gesture, the Penpen jumped up to sit on one of the chairs and began hopping up and down in excitement.

Kaji laughed. "Better make that eight eggs."

Eyeing the meal cooking in the pan, Misato smirked. "Someone's in a good mood. You get laid last night?"

"I reserve the right to remain silent," Kaji replied, smirking. "The doctor's quite a woman, though." He winked as he caught Shinji's gaze.

After a few minutes, Kaji tipped the eggs out of the pan and passed plates to all of them. They ate in silence, except for Penpen, who pecked at his with gusto, spraying small chunks across the table. Shinji slid his plate ever so slightly away from the penguin.

Misato choked down her eggs and toast in a few mouthfuls and checked the clock. "I should probably start getting ready," she groaned. "Ugh, school. Shinji's so lucky that he doesn't have to go in today."

"I'm sure I'll be enrolled soon enough," Shinji reassured her.

"You'll be starting in a week or two," Kaji agreed. "With the attack, there wasn't time to set everything up properly. The whole city's a bit of a mess."

"You'll be in my class, too," Misato interjected. "Maybe that'll make the days a little more bearable."

"For today, however," Kaji continued, "we need you at NERV. The commander wants you familiar and up to speed with Unit 01 as soon as possible, just in case."

Shinji scowled. "They expect me to pilot that thing again?"

"Someone needs to."

"But why does it have to be me?"

"It's your decision of course. But you've been given the chance to make a difference, one that most people never have. If you decide not to then nothing will have changed, but if you do, then you have a chance to help everyone, including yourself, again and again."

Shinji refused to look up, refused to meet his gaze. Kaji had been so kind to him so far, but in the end, he was a member of NERV. Just like Shinji's father, Kaji wanted Shinji there for one purpose, and only that purpose. "Everyone's expecting it of me, right? Don't worry, I'll pilot."

Kaji nodded. "Just remember, no matter what's expected of you, in the end it's always your decision." He stood up from the table and crossed back to the stove. "Now, does anyone want seconds?"

* * *

Once she had her fill of eggs and toast, Misato returned to her room to dress. She really did not want to go to school that day, even more than normal. The brief moment of excitement from the angel attack had left her with a taste for freedom.

She could not believe how much uniforms had changed in the time she had been drifting. Gone were the days of the traditional school uniform, with its pleated skirt and cute sailor collar. Her new uniform consisted of a blouse and a sort of one-piece skirt and top. The blouse was familiar enough: button-down with a rounded collar and a red ribbon tied around the neck. The one-piece, on the other hand, was entirely new. Its skirt was pleated only in two spots, at the edges. It was buttoned at the waist and held up by something halfway between suspenders and an open-fronted vest. Knee-socks and brown loafers completed the outfit.

Throwing her school bag over her shoulder, she slid her door open and skipped out into the dining area with as much cheer as she could muster.

"Alright, I'm ready!"

Shinji looked up as she entered. She saw his eyebrows rise and heard his breath catch as he saw her. She would never say it, but his reaction gave her a small thrill of enjoyment.

Misato twirled, showing off her uniform to him. "What do you think? Pretty cute, huh?"

Shinji blushed and looked away. "I-It's nice I guess."

Misato giggled. Shinji was so easy to tease. He tried to stay cool and distant, but he could not hide his discomfort. It was cute, really.

Turning to Kaji, she said, "Oh, I'm probably going to be a little late coming back tonight. There's a place I want to stop by before I come home."

"Unfortunately, I can't let you do that."

Misato's smile fell a fraction of a millimeter. "What do you mean?" Alarm bells were going off in her mind. Kaji had never minded her doing as she pleased, as long as she stayed in school and was home at a reasonable hour. More than that, there was something about his posture that told her something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

He gestured across from him. "have a seat."

Misato cautiously sat down, not sure she liked Kaji's tone.

Shinji fidgeted as he felt the tension. "I…uh…"

Kaji turned to him, raised his eyebrows and smiled. Shinji looked confused, but Misato knew what that meant. That face. She had seen it so many times when NERV personnel stopped by. What Kaji was about to say did not concern him, but he was free to stay if he wanted. That just made Misato even more worried.

Shinji pushed his chair backward and stood. "I'll be in my room. Let me know when you need me." He retreated through the door to the living room and was gone in mere seconds.

Misato turned back to Kaji, trying to reassert her normal cheer. "So, you going to tell me what this is about?"

"The fourth child has been found," he began.

"Really, already? That's good news. Who are they?"

Kaji cleared his throat but said nothing.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked. After another few moments, Misato caught on. "Wait. You don't mean that it's…me?"

Kaji nodded. "Ritsuko told me last night. They figured it would be better if I told you rather than her."

Misato slumped down in her chair. "You want me to get in one of those things?"

"The commander wants as many pilots as soon as possible. From what I understand, they want you to be part of an experiment."

Misato squirmed in her chair. She was embarrassed by her fear of the Evas, so embarrassed she could only tell Shinji when he was asleep. "I…I can't do something like that!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, you can. You're physically able to pilot, and there's a good chance you'll be able to synch as well. It's not a question of whether you _can_. It's a question of whether you're _willing_."

She glared at him. "Is that the reason you're taking care of me? So they could just turn me into a pilot to fight those…things?"

Kaji's expression momentarily soured. "Don't think just because I'm going along with this that I'm okay with it. If I tried to stop them, they'd claim I wasn't fit to be your guardian and take you away. Then it would be the same as if I had just said yes. I don't have a choice here. But you do."

"Some guardian you are," she snapped, "caving so quickly on something like this."

She wished desperately that he would shout at her, that he would demand she fall in line and pilot, or else leave and never come back. It would be easy to hate him that way. Like with Shinji and commander Ikari. But he did not, he would not even give her that satisfaction. It made her feel like a petulant child, and that simply made her angry at herself.

Kaji's next reply was calm and measured. "I would have thought you out of anyone would have understood how important this is. You've seen what the angels are capable of, twice."

A memory flashed through Misato's mind once again. The giant of light, surrounded by clouds and destruction. Adam. It was enough to drive any fighting spirit from her. She collapsed against the back of her chair, shivering. Yes, she knew what the angels could do all too well. That was the reason she could not pilot the Eva. Why she could not bear to even look at the Angels.

She felt a heavy, comforting hand rest on her head. Looking up, she saw Kaji, a warm expression on his face. "I wish kids like you didn't have to be involved with this. If I could, I'd get in that entry plug myself, and neither you nor Shinji nor anyone else your age would ever need to put themselves at risk. But the Evas won't accept adult pilots. And the angels are inevitably going to arrive. I can't do anything, but you and Shinji can. You have the power to save all of us, if you can just find the courage to pilot."

Something stirred deep within Misato, a memory of a feeling from another life which almost brought her to tears. She barely knew Kaji really—she'd been living with him a matter of months, but somehow it felt like she had lived a lifetime with him. She could feel tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Okay." Her reply was barely more than a mumble. "Okay, I'll try."

"They've scheduled your first activation test for this afternoon at one," Kaji told her. "It will probably take into the evening before they're satisfied one way or the other." His smile became playful, joking. "Look at it this way, you won't have to spend the _whole_ day in class."

"Will I still have time to go somewhere tonight?" She hoped that NERV would still allow her some time in the evening. Knowing she had an escape at the end of everything would make the entire process a little more bearable.

Kaji shrugged. "Maybe. It'll be hard to tell how long these things will take."

"It better not be too long."

* * *

Misato was not herself for the rest of the morning. Every time she felt herself calming down again, she would remember what lay ahead of her. She flinched every time she thought of the angels, seeing the glowing figure in her mind's eye once more. The teachers of each period droned on and on, oblivious to Misato and the other students. The room of class 2-A felt like a holding cell, a place to wait before she was transferred to her final fate.

She barely registered anything else about her classes. That boy who always wore his gym uniform—she thought his name was Suzuhara—was absent. So was Ayanami Rei, but that was nothing new. Sometimes Misato wondered why Rei was even enrolled in school, when she spent well more than half her time in NERV headquarters.

By lunchtime, Misato was debating leaving the school and just wandering the city for a while. She had never wanted to run away so badly.

A shadow passed over her.

"Excuse me." Misato looked up to see a brown-haired girl with low-set twintails and freckles looking down at her. Horaki Hikari, the class representative.

Trying to affix her usual smile, she replied. "Hiya class rep! What can I do for you?"

"Ayanami isn't in class today. Your uncle works closely with her, right? You know her?"

"Yeah, sure," she replied. "I mean, about as well as anyone." Misato wondered if anyone really knew Rei. She always sat alone, reading scientific journals if not doing her homework.

Hikari handed her a stack of papers. "These are the printouts from today's class. Would you mind bringing them to her?"

"No problem!" she exclaimed.

The class representative gave her a curious and disconcerted look. "Are you alright?"

"What do you mean? Of course I am!"

"You're acting strange," Hikari explained. "Did something happen?"

"I'm fine!" Misato said, trying to keep her voice just cheerful enough without being overly so. She did not want to tell Hikari the truth. There was nothing the class representative could do, and she knew the Hikari was just being polite. The two of them had never been close, the girl was just too straight-laced.

Hikari looked less than convinced, but moved off toward a short boy with glasses. "Hey, Aida, You can deliver Suzuhara's printouts, right?"

Misato's smile slipped away again as soon as Hikari's attention was directed elsewhere. Only an hour left now.

She decided she would go up to the roof to eat. Most of the other students would be spending their lunchtime in the classroom or out on the school grounds, so she would likely be by herself. That was good; she wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

The lunch was exactly the same as it always was: a convenience store premade meal with a few things bought from nearby vending machines. Much of it had not changed since the '90s, and it was usually comfort food for her. But today it seemed dry and tasteless, and she choked it down without appreciating any of it.

Only her plans for the evening kept her going. One of her conversations with Shinji had planted the germ of an idea in her mind, one that she wanted to explore. She wanted to feel the wind from a bike again, to have the freedom to go wherever she wanted without relying on Kaji or public transportation. She knew about a certain vehicle junkyard that was not too far by bus. With any luck, she could find a new project. Kaji was going to regret the day he had taught her about fixing motorcycles.

As she finished eating her lunch, she noticed she was not alone on the roof. Rei stood several meters away, as still and silent as a statue. Her cast-covered arm was in a sling, and a large patch covered her eye.

Misato's smile was back in place the instant she saw Rei. "Hey there! Great view up here."

"I'm here to take you to headquarters," the girl explained.

Misato gave a resigned sigh. "That time already, huh?"

"Dr. Akagi and Lt. Colonel Kaji are waiting for your arrival. There is a car standing by to bring us there."

She sighed, tossing her lunch's empty packaging into her school bag. "Better not keep them waiting then."

* * *

Rei was an even more silent companion than Shinji had been. She simply stared straight ahead, hands curled into loose fists, as she sat in the back seat of the car. Her expression was blank, fixed, like a porcelain doll. Misato tapped her foot against the carpet, unable to sit completely still.

Misato watched her companion out of the corner of her eye, studying Rei up close for what seemed the first time. She had met Rei soon after being picked up by NERV, and had seen her regularly since then at school and in headquarters. In all that time, she had learned almost nothing about the pale girl. She was like some sort of human doll; she did not talk to anyone or draw attention to herself, she was simply there. In a way, she reminded Misato of Shinji: quiet, formal, keeping others at arms' length. Now that she thought about it, the two of them even looked alike. They had similar jawlines, similar cheekbones, similar noses. If it were not for the girl's bright red eyes and powder-blue hair, she might have passed for Shinji's long-lost sister.

It took Misato a moment to realize that Rei had noticed she was staring, and was staring back. A single red eye met her gaze, unblinking. Such strange reactions. For a moment, She reminded Misato more of an alien than a doll, like she did not understand how humans were supposed to react.

To break the awkward moment, Misato reached into her school bag and withdrew the printouts she had been given. "Oh, I almost forgot," she exclaimed. "The class rep wanted me to give you these. They're from today's classes. Everything should be there, just fine."

Rei took the stack of paper wordlessly, then returned to staring out the front window with only occasional glances back to Misato.

Misato leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath and trying to think of something to talk about. While they were there, they might as well have a conversation. "So, Rei, you're a pilot too, right?"

For the first time since leaving the school, Rei spoke. "Yes."

That was an encouraging start. There were a million things that Misato should probably ask her. Rei was the First Child after all, the first pilot. But for the moment, there was only one she could actually think to ask.

"Aren't you afraid of getting into that thing?"

"Why would I be?"

"Well, I mean, it's not exactly the safest thing ever." Misato gestured to the cast Rei wore. "You got hurt."

Rei looked down, as if noticing her injuries for the first time. "It doesn't matter. I'm replaceable."

Misato was not entirely sure how to reply to that. Yes, Rei was a strange one. Between her and Shinji, it seemed that all Eva pilots were odd. And soon enough, she would be one of them. She hoped that she at least would not end up weird like them.


	7. 3B: Cosmic Fusion

3B: Cosmic Fusion

Misato took a deep breath to calm herself as she rode the moving walkway. She was resigned to going through with the test, but was far from eager for it. Deep down, she could not help but hope that she would be unusable. A million things could go wrong, even if she cooperated perfectly.

Rei had led her farther down into the facility than Misato had ever been. The corridors on these levels were narrower, dimmer, and even more industrial in appearance than the facility above. A layer of dust lay across everything. Misato wondered if this part of headquarters had been used any time in the last ten years. Her suspicions were confirmed when the logos on the doors changed from the standard NERV logo of a half maple leaf and four capital letters, to one of a grey serpent coiled around a red tree and the word "GEHIRN" spelled in all capital letters across its roots. She remembered Dr. Akagi and Kaji mention that name before. Gehirn. NERV's predecessor. Had this section not been updated since that time?

The moving walkway finally deposited them in front of a green steel door marked AR-56. There was a spot to its right for a keypad or card reader, but it was now simply an open socket with a button crudely wired into it.

Rei turned to look at her. "The doctor and lieutenant commander are waiting for you inside. I must go. Good luck."

"Thanks," Misato said.

Without any further reply, Rei stepped onto the walkway which moved back in the direction they had come from. Misato was alone in the hall, without even security cameras to watch her. So close to piloting, her fear returned. She could always turn around now. There was no one watching her, so there was nothing to stop her from simply following Rei back down the corridor, out of the geofront and away from everything.

A small voice which sounded like Shinji spoke inside her mind. She could not run away. Commander Ikari, Dr. Akagi, uncle Kaji, all of them were counting on her to get in the cockpit. If she just turned around and walked away, she could not go home again, could not go back to school, could never go anywhere associated with NERV. If she did, they would just force her back to this door sooner or later. Shinji was brave enough to climb into the Eva. If he could pilot without knowing the first thing about the angels, then Misato did not deserve to do anything less.

Misato took a deep breath, then released it. She tried to fix her cheerful personality back into place. When she felt calm, she pressed the button beside the door.

The doors slid open to reveal a dusty and poorly-lit control room. Four fluorescent bulbs, badly in need of replacement, cast flickering light over rows of consoles. Like the hallway outside, this room looked as if it had not been used in ten years. The computers in the room were older models, mostly pre-impact business machines. It was surprisingly comforting to see something so familiar, almost like Misato had stepped back in time to before second impact and the drifting. In fact, the entire room reminded her of the labs she had spent time in as a child. She half expected to see her father step out from one of the other doorways.

Four NERV technicians were seated at various consoles, largely ignoring everyone and everything around them as they worked on unnamed tasks. Uncle Kaji and Dr. Akagi stood at the center of the room, staring out a set of large windows into the darkened void of a room beyond.

"Hey," she called to them, "I'm here."

Kaji turned around, and smiled when he saw her. "Well now, glad you could make it."

"Of course!" She exclaimed. "You can always count on me!"

"We'll be ready in another few minutes," Dr. Akagi told her. She called over to one of the technicians. "Maya, how is the reactivation going?"

A cute, brown-haired young woman responded. "So far so good. The Eva's core temperature is up to 270 kelvin, and there's no sign of fractures in its organic components. We'll have it above freezing in another few minutes."

Dr. Akagi nodded in satisfaction. "Alright people, you know the drill here. Just like with unit 01 earlier today: a quick activation, synch, and control test, no mistakes."

"How's Shinji doing?" Misato asked.

"Our tests with him are done for the day," Dr. Akagi explained, "and he's studying the Eva's technical specifications. His synch ratio is really impressive, for a new pilot. 40 percent in the first battle and 35 in the test."

Misato blinked. She had heard the doctor mention synch ratios before, but did not understand what it meant. "That's good, right?"

"The higher the pilot's synch ratio with their unit, the better they're able to command it," Kaji explained. "There's a little danger from having a ratio that's too high, but it's a worthwhile tradeoff for combat effectiveness."

Misato was not sure if she liked the sound of that.

Dr. Akagi handed her a folded jumpsuit and a pair of hairclips. "Here, we'll need you to put this on. The plugsuit helps reduce signal noise and the interface headset—the clips—boost the connection. Just slip the suit on, zip it closed and press the button on the wrist cuff. Keep in mind that anything you wear underneath it will chafe immediately, so it's best to just go without."

"Right," she agreed. She glanced around at the room full of technicians. "Don't tell me you're expecting me to change right here."

Uncle Kaji jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward a door on the other end of the room. "There's a locker room over that way. I don't think it's been used in years, but it should be private. Once you're done, take the lift there down into the bay."

"Okay then! See you in a few minutes!" She smiled, waved, and rushed through the door.

The locker room was more of a closet with a bench, mirror and a metal footlocker. The single dim, flickering light revealed the door to a lift at the far end. As soon as the door closed behind her, she stripped down and began putting on the suit she had been given.

The plugsuit was as loose and baggy as an old t-shirt. She wondered how she was supposed to do anything in it, let alone pilot an Eva. As soon as she pressed the button on the wrist cuff, however, the suit shrank to skintight, perfectly hugging the contours of her body. It was constricting, yet surprisingly comfortable, almost like a thick second skin.

Misato examined herself in the locker room's wall room mirror, taking in the effect. The suit was a deep indigo, with a red chest, shoulders, elbows, and forearms. Red stripes ran across the thighs. Several plugs rose from points along the arms, providing ports for something Misato could not even begin to imagine. The interface headset pieces, which simply clipped into her hair like barrettes, were red as well. She had to admit, she did look good in it, and it made her feel like a hero.

The lift was as old and disused as the rest of this area. The GEHIRN logo was emblazoned along its back, the paint cracked and beginning to flake away. Its motor whined and groaned as it descended. It seemed to take forever to reach the lower level, and then even longer for the doors to grind their way open.

The bay beyond was as lightless as it had seemed through the windows of the control room. The air around her was frigid, so cold she could see her breath. In the glint of the light spilling from the door and control room windows, she could just barely make out the outline of a large, angled, humanoid shape. Here it was then.

She glanced up to the lighted windows of the control room, where uncle Kaji and dr. Akagi stood. Misato waved to them, not certain if they could see her. "Okay," she called out, "I'm ready!" _or as ready as I'll ever be_ , she added to herself.

The voice of the technician from before, Maya, echoed from speakers in the bay. "Evangelion core temperature at 274 kelvin, no sign of stress fracturing. Beginning rapid warming to optimal range. Draining cryonic pool and activating docking bay main power."

Lights snapped on in the dark bay, instantly revealing what was inside. A large suit of armor stood at attention surrounded by a steel scaffold. It was immersed up to its neck in a bath of viscous orange liquid. As she watched, the liquid drained away, revealing the rest of it.

It did not look like the other Eva. The armor was thicker, chunkier, less articulated than that of Unit 01. It lacked the shoulder pylons, knee fins, and general curves of the more advanced unit, instead favoring harder angles and rigid plates. Two slits on either side of the face took the place of eyes. Her plugsuit matched its general color scheme: dark indigo with red accents. She could almost imagine it was just a robot, like the ones from classic anime which had broadcast when she was younger. That helped a little.

"Is this an Eva?" she asked.

"This is Eva unit A," the doctor explained, "one of the two testbeds we used to develop the Evangelions. Your Eva is still being built and won't be here for a while, so we're pulling this one out of mothball for the time being."

Misato looked back to the Eva with new interest. So it was a relic from the past, something stored down here and forgotten for years until it was needed. She imagined it waiting there, cold and alone, not certain whether it would ever see the light again. She felt a strange kindred with it; it reminded her of the drifting feeling she had experienced.

She was still terrified of the angels, and was not sure she could look at any other Evangelion without shuddering. But for whatever reason, she was not afraid this particular Eva. maybe, just maybe, she could actually do this.

* * *

Maya looked up from her console. "280 kelvin. We're up to the minimum operational temperature range."

"Excellent!" Ritsuko gently nudged Maya's hands aside. "Mind if I take the helm here? Startup might be a little finnicky with a unit this old."

Maya blushed as she gently slid aside. "Oh, I, um, sure thing!"

Ritsuko favored her with a smile before beginning to type rapidly, entering strings of commands without hesitation.

Kaji leaned over the console next to Ritsuko, staring at the crude industrial look of the Eva. As crude as it looked, it was hard to believe that NERV had kept an entire working Eva unit in cryogenic storage for so long.

"Why was this Eva abandoned?"

Ritsuko continued typing, not even looking up. "Primitive cybernetics. The entry plug can't be ejected, and it can only use the obsolete A-type equipment. Retrofitting it into a full prototype would have been more expensive than just creating a new one."

"If it's so primitive, why does the commander even want it brought up?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she replied. "Maybe he thinks it can still be useful, even if it won't be much use in combat."

There was that feeling again, the feeling that Ritsuko was lying. She knew something more about this unit, something that she and the higherups did not want anyone knowing. There had been talk about performing a contact experiment with Misato as soon as NERV had taken her into their custody. Her connection to the events of second impact was, after all, unique, they might be able to use that fact to their advantage. But why only now? And why this Eva in particular? Something about this situation did not seem right. Everything seemed to tie back to Misato in some way.

With a final command, there was an electronic whine, and several more monitors lit up around the room.

"Main startup achieved," Ritsuko announced. "Time to drain the bay and begin testing."

Kaji smirked. "Well now, aren't you miss magic fingers?"

Ritsuko chuckled. "You would know."

* * *

The entry plug was a cramped, lightless tube, which was remarkably claustrophobic. If possible, its inside was even more crude and industrial than the Eva's exterior had been. The console in the center was something right out of a mad scientist's diseased nightmares. What resembled a barber's chair was bolted atop a maze of wires, tubes, and braces attached to a pair of rails. Three flat-panel monitors were mounted in an arc around it. A pair of pistol grip joysticks were wired to braces which extended from the armrests of the chair, clearly repurposed controllers from old computers. There was an odd charm to all of it.

Not sure what was supposed to happen, she sat down in the chair and waited. After a few seconds the hatch slid closed behind her, leaving her in total darkness.

Kaji's voice emerged from a speaker on her headrest. "We're filling the entry plug with LCL. Just remain calm."

Liquid flooded into the dark space. Misato gagged as the cold LCL washed over her, filling her lungs. For a moment, she panicked, wondering why they were trying to drown her. As she took an involuntary breath, however, she realized that she was not in fact drowning. The first few lungfuls were icy and viscous, like breathing tar. The plugsuit helped a little, its material insulating her from the worst of the cold, but it could do little for her lungs. There was a faint whirr as a pump behind her activated, and in a matter of moments the liquid began to warm to a tolerable temperature. The liquid had a harsh coppery smell, at once sickening and yet somehow comfortingly familiar.

The doctor spoke over the comm. "Energizing LCL and activating interface."

The orange liquid around her glowed in rainbow colors briefly before fading to darkness once again. The quality of the LCL changed, becoming thinner, more like air. The monitors in front of her switched on, showing a panoramic view of the bay. Their light just barely illuminated the inside of the entry plug. Dozens of cables suddenly shot out of the console, connecting to the plugs on Misato's suit. She felt like a marionette, held in place by strings.

Dr. Akagi spoke over the comm once again. "Now that the auxiliary cables are connected, you should have full control of the Eva. We'll be releasing the docking clamps in a few moments, so you'll have to focus on staying standing."

"What should I do?" Misato asked.

"Nothing elaborate right now," Kaji explained. "We're just going to walk you through some basic maneuvers to test your Synch ratio and ability to handle the Eva. Just relax."

Easy for him to say. He was not the one in a cramped and darkened entry plug. To her surprise, she was no longer scared of the Eva. Perhaps it was the link working properly, or perhaps it was just her imagination, but she felt connected to it in a fundamental way. Yes, it was crude, yes it was primitive, but it was hers now. Here, in the dark, cold tank, she felt safe. The Eva would never let anything bad happen to her. It was a part of her, or, more accurately, she was a part of it.

* * *

"Her synch ratio is low," Kaji commented. "Barely 16 percent"

"It's higher than anyone else has ever achieved with this unit." Ritsuko replied. She looked up, examining the proto-Evangelion with a clinical eye. "One of the early problems we ran into was creating a way for the pilot to interface with the EVA. Even in the LCL environment, the early systems suffered from an enormous amount of signal noise. We tried supplementing with hardline cables from the pilot's suit, but that led to problems of its own."

Kaji shrugged. "I guess as long as it works."

Ritsuko pressed the button for the comm. "Releasing clamps. Try extending the Eva's arm."

In the bay, the Eva stumbled, then slowly raised its right arm.

Ritsuko nodded in satisfaction. "Now take a step forward."

The Eva lurched forward, arms swinging, leg extended. Just as Kaji thought the unit would fall, it caught itself and straightened.

"How's she handling?" Kaji asked.

"Sluggish," Misato responded, "Like I just woke up on a weekend."

"You're doing very well," he told her. "Take a few minutes and just get used to the feel of the unit. If you're feeling confident, you can walk around a bit."

As the Eva began taking shaky steps around the bay, the technicians relaxed. One of them left the room, and returned with a large pot of coffee. He began to fill mugs and pass them out to the other technicians. Another of the group withdrew a Walkman and began to play air guitar as he listened. Maya remained at her station, but withdrew a notebook with a rabbit on the cover and began to doodle.

Ritsuko leaned back in her chair and casually watched Misato's Eva. She smiled as she shot a sidelong glance to Kaji. "No problems after twelve years in storage, and a useable pilot on top of it. I'd call that a minor victory for us."

Kaji smiled back and shook his head. "No, it's a minor victory for her."

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. "what do you mean?"

"She got in. Willingly."

* * *

The sun was already on the horizon by the time Misato passed through the chain-link fence and into the junkyard. It had taken her half an hour to reach the yard from NERV headquarters. Located on the edge of Tokyo-3's residential district, it was bordered on two sides by a steep, wooded hill. A fat, hairy man in overalls sat in front of a small shed, disinterestedly tossing rocks toward a line of tin cans.

"Hey there," Misato said, "Mind if I look around for a bit? There's some things I want to pick up for a project my uncle's working on."

The man shrugged and tossed another rock, striking one of the cans. "Just bring it to the front when you're ready. I'll set the price then."

With a smile and a curt bow, Misato skipped her way into the junkyard. Ever since her brief joyride with Shinji, Misato had realized how badly she wanted a bike. Riding along at 240 kilometers per hour was exhilarating, and she hated that they had taken the motorcycle away from her. But if anything, Misato was creative. If she could not have that bike or buy one like it, then she would just have to make one herself. For that, the junkyard was definitely the right place to start. Lined up in tight rows, stretching off for a full hundred meters, were countless rusted frames of motorcycles. Any of them would do, technically, but she was looking for something particular, something which she could turn into the bike of her dreams. Finally, after twenty minutes of searching, she found it.

Lying on its side in a pile of discarded parts was a low-riding BMW motorcycle frame. It was not much to look at, little more than the skeleton of a bike. Even with salvaging everything she could from the junkyard, it would take a week or more before the thing would run at all. But to Misato's eyes it was beautiful. She saw the potential in the steel skeleton, what it could be rather than what it was.

Already she was mentally planning the parts she wanted to add. Reinforced shock absorbers were a definite must, her experience while picking up Shinji had shown her that much. Electric power was also a high priority, as gas stations would be harder to find in the countryside. The body needed to be sleek, probably painted indigo or red, with memory foam cushioning on the seat. If this bike was going to be her private escape, then it needed to be comfortable to ride.

Yes, uncle Kaji was going to regret he had ever taught her about motorcycles.


End file.
